Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a scientific intergov-
ernmental body tasked with reviewing and assessing the most recent scientific,
technical, and socioeconomic information produced worldwide and relevant to the
understanding of climate change. This panel was established in 1988 by the World
Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Pro-
gramme (UNEP), two organizations of the United Nations.
The IPCC does not carry out original research, nor does it do the work of mon-
itoring climate or related phenomena. The IPCC assessment is based mainly on
peer-reviewed and published scientific literature. A main activity of the IPCC is to
prepare special reports on topics relevant to the implementation of the UN Frame-
work Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The IPCC published its first report in 1990, its fourth in 2009; the fifth report is
due in 2014.
The IPCC reports are the basis for policies adopted by the Conference of the
Parties of the Climate Convention, which was adopted in 1992, and whose object-
ive is to achieve stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere
at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate
system (Article 2 of the Convention on Climate Change).
The 11 years between 1995 and 2006 broke records in average temperature, as
measured since 1850. Between 1906 and 2005, the Earth's average temperature
increased 0.74°C. The increase in temperature per decade over the last 50 years
nearly doubled that observed in the last 100 years. In the last century, the increase
in average temperature in the Arctic doubled that of the planet's average.
Glaciers and mountain snow, as well as polar icecaps, decreased. In the Arctic,
the spring defrost has increased by 15% since 1900. The dynamic defrosting effects
contribute even more to the rise in ocean levels. The oceans absorb more than
80% of the heat incident on Earth and their average temperatures have increased to
depths of up to 3,000 m, leading to a volumetric expansion and to an increase in
sea level. The sea level rose 17 cm in the 20th century, at a rate of 1.8 mm a year in
the period from 1961 to 2003 and 3.1 mm a year in the period from 1993 to 2003.
Rainfalls increased in the western regions of the Americas, Northern Europe,
and North and Central Asia. Droughts increased in the Mediterranean, South
