Courtesy of the The Oil Drum, the Independent has a summary of the predicted effects of global warming at different temperature levels as found in the new United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.
Considering that the IPCC is supposed to represent the views that the majority of scientists can agree upon as the minimum effects. Imagine if the high-end predictions are correct? Remember that the temperatures are in Celsius:
+2.4°: Coral reefs almost extinct
In North America, a new dust-bowl brings deserts to life in the high plains states, centred on Nebraska, but also wipes out agriculture and cattle ranching as sand dunes appear across five US states, from Texas in the south to Montana in the north.
Rising sea levels accelerate as the Greenland ice sheet tips into irreversible melt, submerging atoll nations and low-lying deltas. In Peru, disappearing Andean glaciers mean 10 million people face water shortages. Warming seas wipe out the Great Barrier Reef and make coral reefs virtually extinct throughout the tropics. Worldwide, a third of all species on the planet face extinction
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Rapidity of Events
The summary in the Independent article is chilling. I have to assume (I haven’t read the report) that these predictions are based, at least in part, on the rapidity of change we've experienced over the last 3 to 5 years. What bothers me most on the current reporting of GW is most people, not all, are still talking in terms of GW effects through the end of this century. Does anyone know if this latest IPCC report estimates the future rate of warming based on the most recent events? Also, does the report include information on how current the climate models are (how much of the climate data that's been retrieved in the last 3 - 5 years has been incorporated into the climate models)?
That's a scary article but
That's a scary article but there are no scientific references given in the article. Do you have any idea where these predictions are coming from?
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GraphOilogy
Supposedly the IPCC
According to the article, it's extracted from the latest IPCC report, but I have not yet seen the report to confirm it.