A New Report - ABRUPT CLIMATE CHANGE - Democratic Underground

Dover

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Thu May-01-08 08:39 AM
Original message

A New Report - ABRUPT CLIMATE CHANGE

Edited on Thu May-01-08 09:35 AM by Dover

http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/sap3-4/public-review-draft/

Updated 30 April 2008 Abrupt Climate Change
Public Review Draft for Synthesis and Assessment Product 3.4

Full Report <9 Mb>
Individual Sections:
Preface <38 Kb>
Executive Summary <54 Kb>
Chapter 1. Introduction: Abrupt Changes in the Earth's Climate System <2 Mb>
Chapter 2. Rapid Changes in Glaciers and Ice Sheets and their Impacts on Sea Level <2 Mb>
Chapter 3. Hydrological Variability and Change <2 Mb>
Chapter 4. The Potential for Abrupt Change in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation <3 Mb>
Chapter 5. Potential for Abrupt Changes in Atmospheric Methane <1 Mb>

US Climate Change Science Program, Suite 250, 1717 Pennsylvania Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20006. Tel: +1 202 223 6262. Fax: +1 202 223 3065. Email: information@climatescience.gov. Web: www.climatescience.gov. Webmaster: webmaster@climatescience.gov

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A study on the historic impact of abrupt change (from March 2007):

Abrupt climate change more common than believed

It came on quickly and then lasted nearly two decades, eventually killing more than one million people and affecting 50 million more. All of this makes the Sahel drought, which first struck West Africa in the late 1960s, the most notorious example of an abrupt climatic shift during the last century.

Dramatic as this single event was, University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have now uncovered 29 other regions worldwide that endured similarly precipitous climatic changes during the 20th century - far more than scientists previously thought. Their study publishes today (March 30) in the online edition of Geophysical Research Letters.

..snip..

The work represents the first systematic survey of abrupt climate changes that have occurred in recent history, says postdoctoral researcher Gemma Narisma, who led the study with professor Jonathan Foley, director of the UW-Madison Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment in the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. The National Academies' National Research Council has called for more research on abrupt climate change, warning that it's more likely to happen as global temperatures rise and humans continue to alter the environment

The work might also lead to interventions that would make systems less vulnerable to sudden climate change, Narisma adds.

Unlike other research studies, which have focused on sudden shifts in ancient climates or possible future changes, Narisma's survey of abrupt climate change during the past 100 years offers something else: a chance to learn how people coped.

"We're interested in the human side mainly," says Narisma. "In the more recent history, you really get to see what the impacts were on the current society, and that gives you an idea of the potential impacts in the future, as well."

Abrupt climate change is generally known as a quick and drastic shift in climate that makes it difficult for society and the environment to adapt. In the study, Narisma and her colleagues defined it as a drop in rainfall to levels at least five percent below the normal average, which took much less time to settle in than the drought's total length. They also stipulated that drought conditions had to last at least five years.

"Since these changes are a switch to a new state - the drought state - the tendency is for them to persist for awhile," says Narisma. "It's the combination of abruptness and persistence that gives these events the potential to have serious consequences." ..cont'd

http://www.physorg.com/news94484313.html

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Abrupt Climate Change:
Inevitable Surprises

http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=10136

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The Science of Abrupt Climate Change
Weather Underground
http://www.wunderground.com/education/abruptclimate.asp

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Wikepedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abrupt_climate_change

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RaleighNCDUer

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Thu May-01-08 08:45 AM
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1. Thanks for the info -

bookmarked to read later at my leisure.

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Dover

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Thu May-01-08 10:17 AM
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2. Article - 'New' Ancient Antarctic Sediment Reveals Climate Change History

'New' Ancient Antarctic Sediment Reveals Climate Change History

Recent additions to the premier collection of Southern Ocean sediment cores at Florida State University’s Antarctic Marine Geology Research Facility will give international scientists a close-up look at fluctuations that occurred in Antarctica’s ice sheet and marine and terrestrial life as the climate cooled considerably between 20 and 14 million years ago...cont'd

http://www.physorg.com/news128618809.html

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SlicerDicer-

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Sun May-04-08 12:11 PM
Response to Original message

3. Just like them to neglect huge hunks of data.

There is nothing related to 1816 events..
Nothing related to what would happen with catastrophic cooling..

One sided makes me angry :/

Then there was no real information from Dr. Richard Alley he was cited but not much information.. That made me angry too.

Stupid Stupid

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