Summary for Policymakers: The Science of Climate Change

Summary for Policymakers: The Science of Climate Change - IPCC Working Group I

Contents

Greenhouse gas concentrations have continued to increase
Anthropogenic aerosols tend to produce negative radiative forcings
Climate has changed over the past century
The balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate
Climate is expected to continue to change in the future
There are still many uncertainties

Considerable progress has been made in the understanding of climate change¹ science since 1990 and new data and analyses have become available.

1. Greenhouse gas concentrations have continued to increase

Increases in greenhouse gas concentrations since preindustrial times (i.e., since about 1750) have led to a positive radiative forcing² of climate, tending to warm the surface and to produce other changes of climate.

The atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, inter alia, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) have grown significantly: by about 30%, 145%, and 15%, respectively (values for 1992). These trends can be attributed largely to human activities, mostly fossilfuel use, landuse change and agriculture.
The growth rates of CO2, CH4 and N2O concentrations were low during the early 1990s. While this apparently natural variation is not yet fully explained, recent data indicate that the growth rates are currently comparable to those averaged over the 1980s.
The direct radiative forcing of the longlived greenhouse gases (2.45 Wm2) is due primarily to increases in the concentrations of CO2 (1.56 Wm2), CH4 (0.47 Wm2) and N2O (0.14 Wm2) (values for 1992).
Many greenhouse gases remain in the atmosphere for a long time (for CO2 and N2O, many decades to centuries), hence they affect radiative forcing on long timescales.
The direct radiative forcing due to the CFCs and HCFCs combined is 0.25 Wm2. However, their net radiative forcing is reduced by about 0.1 Wm2 because they have caused stratospheric ozone depletion which gives rise to a negative radiative forcing.
Growth in the concentration of CFCs, but not HCFCs, has slowed to about zero. The concentrations of both CFCs and HCFCs, and their consequent ozone depletion, are expected to decrease substantially by 2050 through implementation of the Montreal Protocol and its Adjustments and Amendments.
At present, some longlived greenhouse gases (particularly HFCs (a CFC substitute), PFCs and SF6) contribute little to radiative forcing but their projected growth could contribute several per cent to radiative forcing during the 21st century.
If carbon dioxide emissions were maintained at near current (1994) levels, they would lead to a nearly constant rate of increase in atmospheric concentrations for at least two centuries, reaching about 500 ppmv (approaching twice the preindustrial concentration of 280 ppmv) by the end of the 21st century.
A range of carbon cycle models indicates that stabilization of atmospheric CO2 concentrations at 450, 650 or 1000 ppmv could be achieved only if global anthropogenic CO2 emissions drop to 1990 levels by, respectively, approximately 40, 140 or 240 years from now, and drop substantially below 1990 levels subsequently.
Any eventual stabilized concentration is governed more by the accumulated anthropogenic CO2 emissions from now until the time of stabilization than by the way those emissions change over the period. This means that, for a given stabilized concentration value, higher emissions in early decades require lower emissions later on. Among the range of stabilization cases studied, for stabilization at 450, 650 or 1000 ppmv, accumulated anthropogenic emissions over the period 1991 to 2100 are 630 GtC³, 1030 GtC and 1410 GtC, respectively (approximately 15% in each case). For comparison the corresponding accumulated emissions for IPCC IS92 emission scenarios range from 770 to 2190 GtC.
Stabilization of CH4 and N2O concentrations at today's levels would involve reductions in anthropogenic emissions of 8% and more than 50% respectively.
There is evidence that tropospheric ozone concentrations in the Northern Hemisphere have increased since preindustrial times because of human activity and that this has resulted in a positive radiative forcing. This forcing is not yet well characterized, but it is estimated to be about 0.4 Wm2 (15% of that from the longlived greenhouse gases). However, the observations of the most recent decade show that the upward trend has slowed significantly or stopped.

2. Anthropogenic aerosols tend to produce negative radiative forcings

Tropospheric aerosols (microscopic airborne particles) resulting from combustion of fossil fuels, biomass burning and other sources have led to a negative direct forcing of about 0.5 Wm2, as a global average, and possibly also to a negative indirect forcing of a similar magnitude. While the negative forcing is focused in particular regions and subcontinental areas, it can have continental to hemispheric scale effects on climate patterns.
Locally, the aerosol forcing can be large enough to more than offset the positive forcing due to greenhouse gases.
In contrast to the longlived greenhouse gases, anthropogenic aerosols are very shortlived in the atmosphere, hence their radiative forcing adjusts rapidly to increases or decreases in emissions.

3. Climate has changed over the past century

At any one location, yeartoyear variations in weather can be large, but analyses of meteorological and other data over large areas and over periods of decades or more have provided evidence for some important systematic changes.

Global mean surface air temperature has increased by between about 0.3 and 0.6°C since the late 19th century; the additional data available since 1990 and the reanalyses since then have not significantly changed this range of estimated increase.
Recent years have been among the warmest since 1860, i.e., in the period of instrumental record, despite the cooling effect of the 1991 Mt Pinatubo volcanic eruption.
Nighttime temperatures over land have generally increased more than daytime temperatures.
Regional changes are also evident. For example, the recent warming has been greatest over the midlatitude continents in winter and spring, with a few areas of cooling, such as the North Atlantic ocean. Precipitation has increased over land in high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, especially during the cold season.
Global sea level has risen by between 10 and 25 cm over the past 100 years and much of the rise may be related to the increase in global mean temperature.
There are inadequate data to determine whether consistent global changes in climate variability or weather extremes have occurred over the 20th century. On regional scales there is clear evidence of changes in some extremes and climate variability indicators (e.g., fewer frosts in several widespread areas; an increase in the proportion of rainfall from extreme events over the contiguous states of the USA). Some of these changes have been toward greater variability; some have been toward lower variability.
The 1990 to mid1995 persistent warmphase of the El NinoSouthern Oscillation (which causes droughts and floods in many areas) was unusual in the context of the last 120 years.

4. The balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate

Any humaninduced effect on climate will be superimposed on the background "noise" of natural climate variability, which results both from internal fluctuations and from external causes such as solar variability or volcanic eruptions. Detection and attribution studies attempt to distinguish between anthropogenic and natural influences. "Detection of change" is the process of demonstrating that an observed change in climate is highly unusual in a statistical sense, but does not provide a reason for the change. "Attribution" is the process of establishing cause and effect relations, including the testing of competing hypotheses.

Since the 1990 IPCC Report, considerable progress has been made in attempts to distinguish between natural and anthropogenic influences on climate. This progress has been achieved by including effects of sulphate aerosols in addition to greenhouse gases, thus leading to more realistic estimates of humaninduced radiative forcing. These have then been used in climate models to provide more complete simulations of the humaninduced climatechange "signal". In addition, new simulations with coupled atmosphereocean models have provided important information about decade to century timescale natural internal climate variability. A further major area of progress is the shift of focus from studies of globalmean changes to comparisons of modelled and observed spatial and temporal patterns of climate change.

The most important results related to the issues of detection and attribution are:

The limited available evidence from proxy climate indicators suggests that the 20th century global mean temperature is at least as warm as any other century since at least 1400 A.D. Data prior to 1400 are too sparse to allow the reliable estimation of global mean temperature.
Assessments of the statistical significance of the observed global mean surface air temperature trend over the last century have used a variety of new estimates of natural internal and externallyforced variability. These are derived from instrumental data, palaeodata, simple and complex climate models, and statistical models fitted to observations. Most of these studies have detected a significant change and show that the observed warming trend is unlikely to be entirely natural in origin.
More convincing recent evidence for the attribution of a human effect on climate is emerging from patternbased studies, in which the modelled climate response to combined forcing by greenhouse gases and anthropogenic sulphate aerosols is compared with observed geographical, seasonal and vertical patterns of atmospheric temperature change. These studies show that such pattern correspondences increase with time, as one would expect, as an anthropogenic signal increases in strength. Furthermore, the probability is very low that these correspondences could occur by chance as a result of natural internal variability only. The vertical patterns of change are also inconsistent with those expected for solar and volcanic forcing.
Our ability to quantify the human influence on global climate is currently limited because the expected signal is still emerging from the noise of natural variability, and because there are uncertainties in key factors. These include the magnitude and patterns of longterm natural variability and the timeevolving pattern of forcing by, and response to, changes in concentrations of greenhouse gases and aerosols, and land surface changes. Nevertheless, the balance of evidence suggests that there is a discernible human influence on global climate.

5. Climate is expected to continue to change in the future

The IPCC has developed a range of scenarios, IS92af, of future greenhouse gas and aerosol precursor emissions based on assumptions concerning population and economic growth, landuse, technological changes, energy availability and fuel mix during the period 1990 to 2100. Through understanding of the global carbon cycle and of atmospheric chemistry, these emissions can be used to project atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases and aerosols and the perturbation of natural radiative forcing. Climate models can then be used to develop projections of future climate.

The increasing realism of simulations of current and past climate by coupled atmosphereocean climate models has increased our confidence in their use for projection of future climate change. Important uncertainties remain, but these have been taken into account in the full range of projections of global mean temperature and sealevel change.
For the midrange IPCC emission scenario, IS92a, assuming the "best estimate" value of climate sensitivity⁴ and including the effects of future increases in aerosol, models project an increase in global mean surface air temperature relative to 1990 of about 2°C by 2100. This estimate is approximately onethird lower than the "best estimate" in 1990. This is due primarily to lower emission scenarios (particularly for CO2 and the CFCs), the inclusion of the cooling effect of sulphate aerosols, and improvements in the treatment of the carbon cycle. Combining the lowest IPCC emission scenario (IS92c) with a "low" value of climate sensitivity and including the effects of future changes in aerosol concentrations leads to a projected increase of about 1°C by 2100. The corresponding projection for the highest IPCC scenario (IS92e) combined with a "high" value of climate sensitivity gives a warming of about 3.5°C. In all cases the average rate of warming would probably be greater than any seen in the last 10,000 years, but the actual annual to decadal changes would include considerable natural variability. Regional temperature changes could differ substantially from the global mean value. Because of the thermal inertia of the oceans, only 5090% of the eventual equilibrium temperature change would have been realized by 2100 and temperature would continue to increase beyond 2100, even if concentrations of greenhouse gases were stabilized by that time.
Average sea level is expected to rise as a result of thermal expansion of the oceans and melting of glaciers and icesheets. For the IS92a scenario, assuming the "best estimate" values of climate sensitivity and of icemelt sensitivity to warming, and including the effects of future changes in aerosol, models project an increase in sea level of about 50 cm from the present to 2100. This estimate is approximately 25% lower than the "best estimate" in 1990 due to the lower temperature projection, but also reflecting improvements in the climate and icemelt models. Combining the lowest emission scenario (IS92c) with the "low" climate and icemelt sensitivities and including aerosol effects gives a projected sealevel rise of about 15 cm from the present to 2100. The corresponding projection for the highest emission scenario (IS92e) combined with "high" climate and icemelt sensitivities gives a sealevel rise of about 95 cm from the present to 2100. Sea level would continue to rise at a similar rate in future centuries beyond 2100, even if concentrations of greenhouse gases were stabilized by that time, and would continue to do so even beyond the time of stabilization of global mean temperature. Regional sealevel changes may differ from the global mean value owing to land movement and ocean current changes.
Confidence is higher in the hemispherictocontinental scale projections of coupled atmosphereocean climate models than in the regional projections, where confidence remains low. There is more confidence in temperature projections than hydrological changes.
All model simulations, whether they were forced with increased concentrations of greenhouse gases and aerosols or with increased concentrations of greenhouse gases alone, show the following features: greater surface warming of the land than of the sea in winter; a maximum surface warming in high northern latitudes in winter, little surface warming over the Arctic in summer; an enhanced global mean hydrological cycle, and increased precipitation and soil moisture in high latitudes in winter. All these changes are associated with identifiable physical mechanisms.
In addition, most simulations show a reduction in the strength of the north Atlantic thermohaline circulation and a widespread reduction in diurnal range of temperature. These features too can be explained in terms of identifiable physical mechanisms.
The direct and indirect effects of anthropogenic aerosols have an important effect on the projections. Generally, the magnitudes of the temperature and precipitation changes are smaller when aerosol effects are represented, especially in northern midlatitudes. Note that the cooling effect of aerosols is not a simple offset to the warming effect of greenhouse gases, but significantly affects some of the continental scale patterns of climate change, most noticeably in the summer hemisphere. For example, models that consider only the effects of greenhouse gases generally project an increase in precipitation and soil moisture in the Asian summer monsoon region, whereas models that include, in addition, some of the effects of aerosols suggest that monsoon precipitation may decrease. The spatial and temporal distribution of aerosols greatly influences regional projections, which are therefore more uncertain.
A general warming is expected to lead to an increase in the occurrence of extremely hot days and a decrease in the occurrence of extremely cold days.
Warmer temperatures will lead to a more vigorous hydrological cycle; this translates into prospects for more severe droughts and/or floods in some places and less severe droughts and/or floods in other places. Several models indicate an increase in precipitation intensity, suggesting a possibility for more extreme rainfall events. Knowledge is currently insufficient to say whether there will be any changes in the occurrence or geographical distribution of severe storms, e.g., tropical cyclones.
Sustained rapid climate change could shift the competitive balance among species and even lead to forest dieback, altering the terrestrial uptake and release of carbon. The magnitude is uncertain, but could be between zero and 200 GtC over the next one to two centuries, depending on the rate of climate change.

6. There are still many uncertainties

Many factors currently limit our ability to project and detect future climate change. In particular, to reduce uncertainties further work is needed on the following priority topics:

Estimation of future emissions and biogeochemical cycling (including sources and sinks) of greenhouse gases, aerosols and aerosol precursors and projections of future concentrations and radiative properties.
Representation of climate processes in models, especially feedbacks associated with clouds, oceans, sea ice and vegetation, in order to improve projections of rates and regional patterns of climate change.
Systematic collection of longterm instrumental and proxy observations of climate system variables (e.g., solar output, atmospheric energy balance components, hydrological cycles, ocean characteristics and ecosystem changes) for the purposes of model testing, assessment of temporal and regional variability, and for detection and attribution studies.

Future unexpected, large and rapid climate system changes (as have occurred in the past) are, by their nature, difficult to predict. This implies that future climate changes may also involve "surprises". In particular, these arise from the nonlinear nature of the climate system. When rapidly forced, nonlinear systems are especially subject to unexpected behaviour. Progress can be made by investigating nonlinear processes and subcomponents of the climatic system. Examples of such nonlinear behaviour include rapid circulation changes in the North Atlantic and feedbacks associated with terrestrial ecosystem changes.

Footnotes:

1 Climate change in IPCC Working Group I usage refers to any change in climate over time whether due to natural variability or as a result of human activity. This differs from the usage in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change where "climate change" refers to a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods.
2 A simple measure of the importance of a potential climate change mechanism. Radiative forcing is the perturbation to the energy balance of the Earthatmosphere system (in Watts per square metre [Wm2]).
3 1 GtC = 1 billion tonnes of carbon.
4 In IPCC reports, climate sensitivity usually refers to the longterm (equilibrium) change in global mean surface temperature following a doubling of atmospheric equivalent CO2 concentration. More generally, it refers to the equilibrium change in surface air temperature following a unit change in radiative forcing (^oC/Wm2).