Sunday, June 29, 2008

Impacts of a Warming Arctic

From the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) 2006 report, Impacts of a Warming Arctic.

click image to enlarge
This record of temperature change (departures from present conditions) has been reconstructed from a Greenland ice core. The record demonstrates the high variability of the climate over the past 100 000 years. It also suggests that the climate of the past 10000 years or so, which was the time during which human civilization developed, has been unusually stable. There is concern that the rapid warming caused by the increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases due to human activities could destabilize this state.

Pass onto anyone who dismisses AGW by saying climate change has always been happening. That stable period from the last 12,000 years? That's what we don't want to interfere with. They've been good years for us.

If you want to learn more, here's the 22 page ACIA pdf: Impacts of a Warming Arctic; A Wikipedia oveview: Arctic Climate Impact Assessment; The skeptics' criticisms of Impacts of a Warming Arctic are examined by RealClimate.org; and of course, the ACIA website itself.

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