Landmark climate change report coming Friday
Every six years, the United Nations-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) releases a massive and influential study detailing the state of Earth's climate. This Friday marks the release of the first IPCC report since 2001. To help preview this blockbuster study, I've asked climate expert Dr. Richard Rood to help out. Dr. Rood is a climate modeler and professor of Meteorology at the University of Michigan, and has authored nearly 100 scientific papers on climate change and meteorology. After today's guest appearance on my blog, Dr. Rood will be contributing a series of blogs on climate change that will appear in a new featured "Climate Change" blog. Take it away, ricky!
What is the IPCC?
On February 2, 2007 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is scheduled to release the first of a series of reports that describe the current state of the Earth's climate, how it has changed, and how it is expected to change in the future. "Climate Change 2007" will be definitive and influential. Climate change touches every aspect of society, and there is already controversy associated with the release. This is the first of a series of blogs about climate and climate change; it discusses the process of development of these official assessments.
First, the IPCC is not a research organization, but relies upon research performed and reported by scientists from all over the world. This underlying research is based on observations and the development of testable propositions to determine cause and effect in the behavior of the observations. Sometimes the propositions can be tested with experiments, but more often climate scientists use models to predict the behavior of the observations. Therefore, like weather forecasting, the success or failure of model predictions reveal our level of understanding.
Part of the scientific process is the ability of independent researchers to investigate the observations and extract information. If their conclusions converge, then the independent nature of the investigations adds accountability to the process. That is, there are checks and balances which constantly challenge, check, and re-check the conclusions of individual scientists. The IPCC assesses this body of scientific literature; it is not just the research of the United States; it is the research of the world. It is research hardened by the competition of ideas and honed by the survival of the successful ideas.
The scientists who write the IPCC reports use exquisite rigor. The reports are written by experts drawn from around the world, selected to assure the representation of the members of the United Nations. Draft reports are then reviewed by experts who were not authors of the report. Then there is review by government officials involved in policy making. All told, there are more than 1000 contributing authors, and more than 2000 independent reviewers. All comments are considered in the revisions that lead to the production of the final document. The time commitment is enormous, and the result is a document which is based on the facts of observation and predictions which have been scrutinized to the highest level possible.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is sponsored by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Program. Their home page is at http://www.ipcc.ch/.
ricky
Reader Comments
Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 — Blog Index
Also, an interesting article about the report coming out today. Take it for what its worth.
Link
So what are we to do now? GW is manmade but we can't reverse it for centuries?
The choice is stark. We may either
1) Throw up our hands and accept this reality as inevitable, and prepare to cope with the consequences as best we may; or
2) Develop a credible geoengineering scheme to help us negotiate the next few centuries.
No one benifits from over-population except the rich at the top of the food-chain, and any practical economic system can easily run at even keel as well. The problems are not just global warming, it is the destruction of nearly everything that makes this planet attractive. In the East, where I live, I can drive a hundred miles in any direction, and not find a single place of solitude that is unravaged by man. You name it: global warming, air polution, water polution, habitate loss, wildlife loss, obnoxious noise everywhere including jet planes in the most remote areas, too many roads and cars, rules and more rules, light polution, private property, and over regulated national parks due to millions of visitors trying to escape the hell they created. What is left, where a man can go to be free. That is why I say that global warming is only the tip of the iceburg, and the methods to solve it as a single entity will fail. The rest of the iceburg will just roll over and the tip remains - get the analogy.
modified to show time of latest tornado touchdown in Florida It's not over yet guys and new count is 14 dead and still a large demolished trailer park to account for and the storms still touching down now.
I have a weather page at http://weather.jorick.us/weather.php where you can get that information.
When you get to the page, look on the left side where the list of states are. Scroll down to the Canadian section and click on CANADA. Then scroll down to the Temperatures section. You'll be able to see the forcasted highs and lows for Greenland for the next 3 days on the top of each of the maps. A scale is shown at the bottom of the section.
If you want to see the temperatures for the top part of Greenland (because the top part is cut off on the national map), go to the left side and click on Nunavut. Now most of the top of Greenland can be seen in the Temperature section.
=====
For everyone else, the page just mentioned above puts a lot of Accuweather's maps in one place without you having to rummage around Accuweather trying to find what you want. You can see any state or province with one mouse click. You can select small or large maps, still or animated. If you're in the USA, you can enter your zip code and get a small box at the top of the page showing you the forecast for the next 3 days.
Maps include:
Radar...both US and your state
Satellite...both US and your state
Surface...today, tomorrow, and day after
Temperatures...highs and lows for next 3 days
Precipitation...rain and snow next 24 hours
Severe weather...both US and your state
Solar weather from NOAA including auroras
Tropical weather for certain states
Bookmark this page today!
Note: This is not an advertisement. I receive NO money for posting this page or advertising it. THERE ARE NO ADVERTISEMENTS OR POPUP WINDOWS ON THE PAGE and there never will be!
I wrote the page for my own use and found that others were interested in it so I made it available to all. If you like the page, let me know. If you have a suggestion, email me and I'll put it in if possible.
Well yes i had one Tornado pass me in the countryside when i was driving around i would say it was around F1
..."The humanitarian act of providing food for people who live in areas where agriculture can no longer sustain life ( for whatever reason )is naturally futile. Populations come and go. We need to accept this. Its hard if you are one of the affected, but populations in areas that are infertile need to die out. Keeping life going ( just barely ) is also bad for the collective gene pool. I expect some serious flak here, but............."
No flak. I just hope you get sick and die and stop breathing my oxygen.
Comes around, goes around, eh?. Kinda takes the humanity out of being human. So much for nobility, or grace or courage or anything else living for.
Viewing: 501 - 550
Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 — Blog Index