Oceans Will Keep Rising For 1,000 Years (And That's the Good Scenario)

"250+ scientific experts; 800+ contributing authors; 450+ lead authors; 130 countries; 6 years; 4 volumes; 1 report."

That’s how the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is pimping the release of "Climate Change 2007," the fourth assessment report from the most authoritative climate change group. All this week, 500 scientists have been working in Paris, making the final edits to the report being released today. You can click here to find the report itself, but it seems that most of the key findings have leaked out.

Highlights, if they can be called that, include the finding that an increase in hurricane and tropical cyclone strength since 1970 "more likely than not" can be attributed to man-made global warming. The panel’s last report, in 2001, said that there was not enough evidence then to support that claim.

According to Reuters, "It is very likely that (human) greenhouse gases caused most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century," according to a final draft. "Very likely" means a probability of at least 90 percent -- up from a judgment of "likely", or a 66 percent probability, in the previous 2001 report. The Paris study, looking at the science of global warming, will also project a "best estimate" that temperatures will rise by 3 Celsius (5.4 Fahrenheit) by 2100 over pre-industrial levels, the biggest change in a century for thousands of years."

And the millenium of seas rising? That's assuming we can stabilize greenhouse gas emissions this century, which based on the level of obfuscation and inactivity of the world's leading greenhouse gas belcher, is no sure thing.

Comments

scientist have not come to an agreement on what is making the weather go warmer by the days.....they dont agree yet..

Posted by: Dr.Q on 02/02/07 at 2:32 PM Respond

Dr. Q., you and George Bush take the same view, and you are both flat out wrong. 99.8% of the world's scientists DO agree. Read the report they just published.

Posted by: MKJ on 02/02/07 at 4:31 PM Respond

Dr Q, on the Titanic, untill the last moments, you could still find someone saying all was going to be all right.
Seriously, we now more than before need to shift the discussion on climate, a shift away from WHAT is happening (we know the scientific consensus on global warming), and towards HOW to avert a worse-case climate change scenario from becoming reality. And I am not thinking on incremental change at the individual level, which is clearly not enough. The stress needs to be put on wide ranging political and economic solutions.
Part of this "solutions" oriented thinking can be seen on www.noe21.org

Posted by: Ph de Rougemont on 02/03/07 at 12:23 AM Respond

From where I live, and according to global-warming experts, I honestly don't give a damn... The French will first be beset by a horrible desert climate, then will be buried under glaciers...

How can this be a bad thing for the populace of Mankind?

Strangely, I look forward to global warming!! The useless cities of the nation I live in will be flooded, ending thier drain on society in general.

We'll see... For all we know something will come along to bring along a new Ice Age!!

Posted by: James N on 02/03/07 at 1:28 AM Respond

I am SO bored with all this bickering about who's to blame for this. What's the difference whether or not this is a "natural" phenomenon, or something caused by human activity? The gist of it is that it's happening. What's urgently needed is to figure out what we do about it so that we survive as a species.

Posted by: Lise Brouillette on 02/03/07 at 5:24 AM Respond

I live inland along the Gulf Coast in Texas. I've spoken to some folks that live on Galveston Isle and I must tell you that most ARE concerned about the effects of the warming of the planet and are scared SHI#LESS about any hurricane that could turn into a monster. They are less concerned (at least for now) about the increase in sea levels. After the totally destructive hurricane at the beginning if the 20th century, the people of Galveston built a huge seawall and raised the city around 20 ft.(I forget the exact figure) and have endured so far. I wonder if the city has the foresite to make the decision to stay and do something on a massive scale or just wait until the island becomes a footnote in history.

Posted by: L. Bedingfield on 02/03/07 at 6:07 AM Respond

To all those that deny the reality of climate change and our collective responsibility to change our patterns of behavior & consumption I would lump you with those twits of history that held on to the view that the earth was flat or that the sun revolved around the earth. Twits then. Twits now.

Posted by: Paul Malouf on 02/04/07 at 7:11 AM Respond

Humans will not exist forever. We are here because our earths climate has allowed us to evolve. Hopefully those dumb as politicians out there will realize this and do something to slow the inevitable. Even if global warming will take hundreds of years to become a major problem, why not do something to fix it now. Oh yeah, that's right. Everyones money hungry for oil and world domination. Try focusing on the big picture....keeping our species alive.

Posted by: J on 02/05/07 at 4:02 PM Respond