When global temperature rises 1°C next decades the 400,000 years old record from Holocene is outranged. During the Middle Pliocene about three million years ago Earth was only 23°C warmer than today and sea level was 2535m higher. Are we going to beat all temperature records?
Published yesterday online in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Online latest report from James Hansen and colleagues links changes in sea surface temperatures, El Niños, effects on sea level and extermination of species.
That means that further global warming of 1 degree Celsius defines a critical level. If warming is kept less than that, effects of global warming may be relatively manageable. During the warmest interglacial periods the Earth was reasonably similar to today, …
… But if further global warming reaches 2 or 3 degrees Celsius, we will likely see changes that make Earth a different planet than the one we know.
Full report, abstract, supporting materials
Picture Credit: James Hansen, Makiko Sato, Reto Ruedy, Ken Lo, David W. Lea, and Martin Medina-Elizade; Global temperature change; doi:10.1073/pnas.0606291103; Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Online, published online Sep 25, 2006;
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