“With projections to the year 2100, we can show what will happen if we continue with business as usual—if we don’t do anything to curb emissions of greenhouse gasses,” said Warren M. Washington, senior research scientist for the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and a speaker at the AAAS Annual Meeting.
Noting that concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane did not start to increase significantly until the 20th century, Washington demonstrated with charts and graphs worldwide projections for average temperature in 2050 and 2090, and compared the data to the relatively stable temperature pattern in the 1000 years that preceded the growing presence of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.
“The greatest warming takes place in the winter hemisphere, and is strongly influenced by the retreat of snow and ice in high latitudes,” said Washington, who is also chairman of the National Science Board. “The range of (computer) models for global climate change at end of the century is 1.5 to 6 degrees centigrade, with most of the models in the range of 2-4 degrees. In the polar regions the changes of the order of 8 to more than 10 degrees in the winter time of the years.”
The computer predictions, produced by the NCAR Parallel Climate Model and by other computer systems, are made by interpreting data gathered on sea ice, land-vegetation, ocean and atmospheric components of the climate system, and creating an interactive system for understanding how they work together to influence the earth’s climate.
“The atmospheric, ocean and sea ice components make use of the fundamental laws of physics,” Washington said. “In the atmosphere, for example, equations describe the wind, temperature, density and pressure relationships. Climate models require supercomputer capability to solve the complex interactive mathematical equations.”
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world’s largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science. Founded in 1848, AAAS serves 134,000 members as well as 272 affiliates, representing 10 million scientists.
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the world's largest general scientific society, and publisher of the journal, Science (www.sciencemag.org). AAAS was founded in 1848, and serves some 265 affiliated societies and academies of science, serving 10 million individuals. Science has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world, with an estimated total readership of one million. The non-profit AAAS (www.aaas.org) is open to all and fulfills its mission to "advance science and serve society" through initiatives in science policy; international programs; science education; and more. For the latest research news, log onto EurekAlert!, www.eurekalert.org, the premier science-news Web site, a service of AAAS.
--Advance Interview Possible Upon Request--
MEDIA NOTE: Warren Washington will brief journalists at 12:00 p.m. noon Mountain Time, Sunday, 16 February in Rooms C-110-112 in the Colorado Convention Center. Washington give a topical lecture titled, “Predicting the Climate of the 21st Century,” at 1:30 p.m. Mountain Time, Sunday, 16 February, in Room A-209 on the Main Level of the Colorado Convention Center. Press registration is located in Room C-101 of the Colorado Convention Center.