Processes for identifying regional influences of and responses to increasing atmospheric CO{sub 2} and climate change - the MINK project: An overview

Scientists believe that a serious change in the climate of the earth could occur in the course of the next two to five decades as a result of warming caused by the rapid accumulation of radiatively active trace gases in the atmosphere. There is concern that not only the amount of warming but the rate at which it occurs could be unprecedented, at least since the current interglacial period began. Scientific uncertainties remain in our understanding of the climatic changes that may follow from greenhouse warming. Nevertheless, large and rapid changes in regional climate are conceivable. General circulation models (GCMs) predict changes for the central U.S. as large as an 8{degrees}C increase in mean summertime temperature accompanied by a 1 mm/day decrease in mean precipitation. Most predictions are less extreme but, so long as the direction of change is credible, efforts are warranted to identify just what kinds of impacts to expect if society chooses to allow climate to change or cannot stop it from changing, and just what might be done to adjust to those impacts