An influential group of scientists led by James Hansen, the former
Nasa scientist often credited with having drawn the first major
attention to climate change in 1988 congressional testimony, has
published a dire climate study that suggests the impact of global
warming will be quicker and more catastrophic than generally envisioned.\
The
research invokes collapsing ice sheets, violent megastorms and even the
hurling of boulders by giant waves in its quest to suggest that even 2C
of global warming above pre-industrial levels would be far too much.
Hansen has called it the most important work he has ever done.
The
sweeping paper, 52 pages in length and with 19 authors, draws on
evidence from ancient climate change or "paleo-climatology", as well as
climate experiments using computer models and some modern observations.
Calling it a "paper" really isn't quite right - it's actually a
synthesis of a wide range of old and new evidence.
"I think almost everybody who's really familiar with both
paleo and modern is now very concerned that we are approaching, if we
have not passed, the points at which we have locked in really big
changes for young people and future generations," Hansen said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11611840
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