Open AccessIdentifying Crucial Issues in Climate Science: Drastic Change in the Earth System During Global Warming; Sapporo, Japan, 24 June 2008
Author(s) -
Ikeda Motoyoshi,
Greve Ralf,
Hara Toshika,
Watanabe Yutaka W.,
Ohmura Atsumu,
Ito Akihiko,
Kawamiya Michio
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/2009eo020006
Subject(s) - global warming , climate change , earth system science , humanity , environmental ethics , global change , ecological forecasting , political science , environmental science , climatology , ecology , law , geology , biology , philosophy
The Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and former U.S. vice president Al Gore indicates that global warming is recognized as a real phenomenon critical to human beings. However, humanity's knowledge concerning global warming is based on an uncertainty larger than 50% in the warming rate during the past century. Therefore, scientific clarification is needed to understand important mechanisms that potentially produce positive feedbacks in the Earth system—such mechanisms must be better understood before scientists can develop more reliable predictions.