Posted by Guy on June 23, 2007, at 11:40:17 [reposted on June 23, 2007, at 12:20:52 | original URL]
In reply to What if?, posted by Guy on June 23, 2007, at 10:59:59
I wouldn't speak too soon. James Hansen is perhaps the most respected climate scientist on the planet. He does his own research and is not afraid to speak his mind. He first stood up before the US Senate committee in the 80's and warned of the dangers of climate change. The Bush administration has tried to muzzle him on several occasions. Here is an article about his recent research. If sea levels rise by several meters by the end of the century, just think what will happen to the climate before then. (After 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels we enter a phase called "run-away global warming.")
Scientists warn of 'imminent peril' from climate change - Tue Jun 19, 2:20 PM ET
A group of US scientists have reportedly warned that a UN panel on climate change underestimated the scale of sea-level increases this century resulting from global warming.
The six scientists cautioned that the Earth is in "imminent peril" in a 29-page article published in the July 15 issue of the "Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A," The Independent reported.
"Recent greenhouse gas emissions place the Earth perilously close to dramatic climate change that could run out of control, with great dangers for humans and other creatures," wrote the group led by James Hansen, the director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
They predict in their paper, "Climate change and trace gases" that sea levels may rise by several metres by 2100, according to The Independent.
That compares to a forecast from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published in a February report that predicts sea levels increasing between 18 and 59 centimetres.
The other scientists involved in the paper were Makiko Sato, Pushker Kharecha and Gary Russell, also of the Goddard Institute, David Lea of the University of California at Santa Barbara and Mark Siddall of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University in New York.
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thread:765202
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