scholarly journals Fifth IPCC Assessment Report Now Out

2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zbigniew W. Kundzewicz
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Physical Science ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Climate System ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Response Options ◽  
Assessment Report ◽  
The Past ◽  
Working Groups ◽  
Synthesis Report

Abstract The Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is now available. It provides policymakers with an assessment of information on climate change, its impacts and possible response options (adaptation and mitigation). Summaries for policymakers of three reports of IPCC working groups and of the Synthesis Report have now been approved by IPCC plenaries. This present paper reports on the most essential findings in AR5. It briefly informs on the contents of reports of all IPCC working groups. It discusses the physical science findings, therein observed changes (ubiquitous warming, shrinking cryosphere, sea level rise, changes in precipitation and extremes, and biogeochemical cycles). It deals with the drivers of climate change, progress in climate system understanding (evaluation of climate models, quantification of climate system responses), and projections for the future. It reviews impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, including observed changes, key risks, key reasons for concern, sectors and systems, and managing risks and building resilience. Finally, mitigation of climate change is discussed, including greenhouse gas emissions in the past, present and future, and mitigation in sectors. It is hoped that the present article will encourage the readership of this journal to dive into the AR5 report that provides a wealth of useful information.

scholarly journals Antarctic climate change and the environment: an update

Polar Record ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 237-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Turner ◽  
Nicholas E. Barrand ◽  
Thomas J. Bracegirdle ◽  
Peter Convey ◽  
Dominic A. Hodgson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Assessment Report ◽  
The Past ◽  
Key Points ◽  
Form Part ◽  
Antarctic Research ◽  
Antarctic Treaty ◽  
The Antarctic ◽  
Relevant Material

ABSTRACTWe present an update of the ‘key points’ from the Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment (ACCE) report that was published by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) in 2009. We summarise subsequent advances in knowledge concerning how the climates of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean have changed in the past, how they might change in the future, and examine the associated impacts on the marine and terrestrial biota. We also incorporate relevant material presented by SCAR to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings, and make use of emerging results that will form part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report.

Global Impacts of Climate Change

2011 ◽  
pp. 66-92
Author(s):  
Costas P. Pappis
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Working Group ◽  
Physical Science ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Assessment Report ◽  
Fourth Assessment Report ◽  
Global Impacts ◽  
Basic Facts

In the previous chapter, the basic facts regarding global warming have been presented, summarizing mainly the latest scientific findings reported by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), particularly in Working Group I’s Fourth Assessment Report on the Physical Science Basis of Climate Change (Forster et al., 2007).

Australian Participation in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

2008 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Zillman
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
United Nations Environment Programme ◽  
Scientific Integrity ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Response Options ◽  
Climate Change Issue ◽  
The Us ◽  
Working Groups

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 1988 to provide an authoritative assessment of the state of knowledge of climate change science and impacts and to develop realistic strategies for management of the climate change issue. Following the establishment of a separate United Nations Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for a Framework Convention on Climate Change and the subsequent signing and entry into force of the Convention, the IPCC reverted to the role of providing policy-neutral but policy-relevant assessments of the contemporary state of knowledge, as contained in the published literature, of the science, impacts and response options for climate change. Australian Government representatives and Australian climate scientists played a major part in the establishment of the IPCC and its operation over the past twenty years including key roles in the preparation of virtually all of its reports. Australia chaired the committee which proposed the structure and membership of the initial IPCC Working Groups, served as Vice-Chair of the Impacts Working Group for the IPCC's First Assessment Report, engaged more national experts in the review of its first assessment of the science of climate change than any other country except the US, has provided almost one hundred Lead Authors and several hundred reviewers for its four major assessments and has served continuously on its coordinating Bureau since its inception. Australian delegations have participated in every formal intergovernmental session of the Panel and its Working Groups and have made a significant contribution to the scientific integrity of the IPCC assessment process.

Facing future climate change: is the past relevant?

2008 ◽  
Vol 366 (1885) ◽  
pp. 4627-4645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke Skinner
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Numerical Models ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Scientific Basis ◽  
Climate System ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Face

From a socio-economic perspective, the ‘sharp end’ of climate research is very much about looking forward in time. As far as possible, we need to know what to expect and approximately when to expect it. However, it is argued here that our approach to climate change (including its scientific basis and its policy implications) is firmly linked to our understanding of the past. This is mainly due to the role played by palaeoclimate reconstructions in shaping our expectations of the climate system, in particular via their ability to test the accuracy of our climate models. Importantly, this includes the intuitive models that each of us carries around in our mind, as well as the more complex numerical models hiding inside supercomputers. It is through such models that palaeoclimate insights may affect the scientific and political judgements that we must make in the face of persistent and ultimately irreducible predictive uncertainty. Already we can demonstrate a great deal of confidence in our current understanding of the global climate system based specifically on insights from the geological record. If further advances are to be made effectively, climate models should take advantage of both past and present constraints on their behaviour, and should be given added credence to the extent that they are compatible with an increasingly rich tapestry of past climatic phenomena. Furthermore, palaeoclimate data should be accompanied by clearly defined uncertainties, and organized in arrays that are capable of speaking directly to numerical models, and their limitations in particular.

scholarly journals Closing windows and opening flood gates: recent climate change science and implications for climate policy

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andy Reisinger
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Scientific Basis ◽  
Global Knowledge ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Response Options ◽  
Assessment Report ◽  
Fourth Assessment Report ◽  
Recent Climate ◽  
Climate Change Science

The Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC), released in four volumes during2007, provides a commanding summary of global knowledge about climate change. It covers the scientific basis of climate change, its potential impacts, and response options through adaptation, mitigation and their links with sustainable development (IPCC,2007a, b, c, d).

scholarly journals Key messages from the IPCC AR6 climate science report

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Ming ◽  
Isobel Rowell ◽  
Sam Lewin ◽  
Robert Rouse ◽  
Thomas Aubry ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Physical Science ◽  
Climate Science ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Assessment Report ◽  
Briefing Document ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Climate Crisis

The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has published the first part of its sixth assessment report (AR6) which summarises the latest climate science findings and will guide policy in the years ahead. This report is particularly timely, as world leaders prepare to respond to the climate crisis at the UN COP26 climate summit in Glasgow this November. The full AR6 report is an enormous scientific undertaking that assesses the physical science basis for climate change and assembles the findings from over 14,000 peer reviewed publications. The purpose of this briefing document is to provide a succinct summary of the key scientific messages.

scholarly journals Ensemble models on palaeoclimate to predict India's groundwater challenge

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Partha Sarathi Datta
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Global Climate Models ◽  
Humid Climate ◽  
Ensemble Models ◽  
North West ◽  
The Past ◽  
The North ◽  
14C Age

In many parts of the world, freshwater crisis is largely due to increasing water consumption and pollution by rapidly growing population and aspirations for economic development, but, ascribed usually to the climate. However, limited understanding and knowledge gaps in the factors controlling climate and uncertainties in the climate models are unable to assess the probable impacts on water availability in tropical regions. In this context, review of ensemble models on δ18O and δD in rainfall and groundwater, 3H- and 14C- ages of groundwater and 14C- age of lakes sediments helped to reconstruct palaeoclimate and long-term recharge in the North-west India; and predict future groundwater challenge. The annual mean temperature trend indicates both warming/cooling in different parts of India in the past and during 1901–2010. Neither the GCMs (Global Climate Models) nor the observational record indicates any significant change/increase in temperature and rainfall over the last century, and climate change during the last 1200 yrs BP. In much of the North-West region, deep groundwater renewal occurred from past humid climate, and shallow groundwater renewal from limited modern recharge over the past decades. To make water management to be more responsive to climate change, the gaps in the science of climate change need to be bridged.

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