A hypertext history of how scientists came to (partly) understand what people are doing to cause climate change

from the Encyclopedia of Ecology

from Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science

from the International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences

from the Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science

PNAS, 11 (9), 2013: The impacts of global climate change on different aspects of humanity’s diverse life-support systems are complex and often difficult to predict. To facilitate policy decisions on mitigation and adaptation strategies, it is necessary to understand, quantify, and synthesize these climate-change impacts, taking into account their uncertainties. Crucial to these decisions is an understanding of how impacts in different sectors overlap, as overlapping impacts increase exposure, lead to interactions of impacts, and are likely to raise adaptation pressure

from New Scientist

Nature 4th April: Costs of carbon emissions are being underestimated, but current estimates are still valuable for setting mitigation policy, say Richard L. Revesz and colleagues.

Global Change Biology, May 2014: Development efforts for poverty reduction and food security in sub-Saharan Africa will have to consider future climate change impacts. Large uncertainties in climate change impact assessments do not necessarily complicate, but can inform development strategies. The design of development strategies will need to consider the likelihood, strength, and interaction of climate change impacts across biosphere properties. We here explore the spread of climate change impact projections and develop a composite impact measure to identify hotspots of climate change impacts, addressing likelihood and strength of impacts.

The latest report on climate impacts from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) sounds a familiar warning: Climate change is already stressing human communities, agriculture, and natural ecosystems, and the effects are likely to increase in the future. But unlike the last edition, issued in 2007, this year's report is meant to be a practical guide to action. It goes out of its way to highlight the greatest risks, and draws on an emerging body of social science to suggest how policymakers might take practical steps to help communities adapt.

Marine and terrestrial proxy records suggest global cooling during the Late Holocene, following the peak warming of the Holocene Thermal Maximum (∼10 to 6 ka) until the rapid warming induced by increasing anthropogenic greenhouses gases. However, the physical mechanism responsible for this global cooling has remained elusive. Here, we show that climate models simulate a robust global annual mean warming in the Holocene, mainly in response to rising CO2 and the retreat of ice sheets. This model-data inconsistency demands a critical reexamination of both proxy data and models.

from New Scientist

(New Scientist: May 2014) THE weather is preparing to go wild, and will wreak havoc and death around the globe later this year. An El Niño, a splurge of warm water in the Pacific Ocean, is coming. It will unleash floods in the Americas, while South-East Asia and Australia face drought. Yet little is being done to address these consequences.

The length of the melt season for Arctic sea ice is growing by several days each decade, and an earlier start to the melt season is allowing the Arctic Ocean to absorb enough additional solar radiation in some places to melt as much as four feet of the Arctic ice cap's thickness, according to a new study.

The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has issued a report that says the effects of climate change are already occurring on all continents and across the oceans. The world, in many cases, is ill-prepared for risks from a changing climate. The report also concludes that there are opportunities to respond to such risks, though the risks will be difficult to manage with high levels of warming

Climate change and its effects on existence on earth are becoming more and more relevant as physical evidence of change in our climate is beginning to mount. Livestock production and our dependence on it for survival is a reality. It is also a reality that this global source of food and income will be prone to the effects of climate change. Historic climate changes have already played a role in the demise or development of agricultural production systems. .......

This publication is published on a monthly basis by the South African Weather Service. It contains the highlights and impacts of the weather as well as a summary of weather-related events for the month. The following are also included: rainfall maps depicting the monthly rainfall in millimeters and as percentage of the normal, the seasonal rainfall as percentage of the normal, and a decile rainfall map; temperature maps depicting the monthly mean maximum and minimum temperature deviations.

The observed and projected changes in the climate of southern Africa in the period 1900–2100 were analysed. Ten observed, reanalysed and model-simulated climate data sets were explored for changes in surface air temperature, rainfall, air pressure, winds, ocean currents and sea surface height. The analysis of spatial and temporal climate trends from historical observations provided a context to assess two coupled model simulations (IPSL, MIROC) based on the A1B emission scenario......

Global warming is a steadily increasing problem that is affecting the daily lives of people all over the world, including South Africa. It has the potential to cause extensive devastation in the future if action is not taken to mitigate it.....

A change in climate is known to affect ecosystems and access to natural resources, such as water. Because of low economic development and variations of local conditions in Sub-Saharan Africa, adaptation and mitigation against climate change impacts is low. From a continental and annual basis, Africa is known to have abundance of water resources but spatial and temporal variation within and between countries puts the continent as one with pressing water problem. Reports have shown that, global warming, which is a direct result of climate change is unequivocal and the change in greenhouse gas emissions is due to human and natural activities. In several African countries, climate change is having a multitude of immediate and long-term impacts on water resources.............This paper was therefore aimed at reviewing current impacts of climate change on Africa water resources. The vulnerability of Africa and current climate change adaptation steps were also discussed.

The potential impact of climate change still leaves more questions than answers. One area of research that is only now being explored is the potential effect of a changing climate on South Africa's groundwater resources.

Subantarctic islands form ideal sentinels to climate change. These islands support terrestrial and marine ecosystems that are relatively simple and extremely sensitive to perturbations. They provide an ideal natural laboratory for studying how ecosystems respond to a changing climate in the Southern Ocean. Initial studies and subsequent analyses at the Prince Edward Islands in the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean have all shown that there has been a climatological rise of >1°C in the sea surface temperature since 1949............

We are warming the planet – key findings from the United Nations climate science panel (IPCC)

A new study estimates that 12 percent of land will be subject to drought by 2100 through rainfall changes alone; but the drying will spread to 30 percent of land if higher evaporation rates are considered. An increase in evaporative drying means that even regions expected to get more rain, including important wheat, corn and rice belts in the western United States and southeastern China, will be at risk of drought.

NT Times - 27/9/2013

Associated Press - 24/09/2013

Guardian - 27/09/2013

A commentary site on climate science by working climate scientist.