Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
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Convection scheme
: The convection scheme computes the exchange of buoy-
ant thermals and compensation flows between modeled layers, and calcu-
lates the amount of convective precipitation generated as these thermals rise
and cool.
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Large-scale precipitation scheme
: The large-scale precipitation scheme
calculates if each of the modeled layers has become saturated and removes
any excess water as rain, if the air temperature is greater than freezing point,
or as frozen precipitation, if the air temperature is less than freezing point.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a scientific
intergovernmental body tasked to evaluate the risk of climate change caused by
human activity. The panel was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological
Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP),
two organizations of the United Nations. The IPCC shared the 2007 Nobel Peace
Prize.
The IPCC does not carry out research, nor does it monitor climate or related
phenomena. A main activity of the IPCC is publishing special reports on topics
relevant to the implementation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate
Change, an international treaty that acknowledges the possibility of harmful
climate change. The IPCC bases its assessment on the most recent scientific,
technical and socio-economic information produced worldwide relevant to the
understanding of climate change. IPCC reports are widely cited in almost any
debate related to climate change.
The IPCC First Assessment Report appeared in 1990 with a supplementary
report in 1992, and there have been subsequent reports in 1995, 2001 and 2007.
The key conclusions of the most recent IPCC report (IPCC, 2007) are as
follows:
Warming of the climate system is unequivocal.
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Most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperature since the
mid-twentieth century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthro-
pogenic (human-caused) greenhouse gas concentrations.
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Anthropogenic warming and sea-level rise would continue for centuries due
to the timescales associated with climate processes and feedbacks, even if
greenhouse gas concentrations were to be stabilized, although the likely
amount of temperature and sea-level rise varies greatly depending on the
intensity of fossil fuel burning during the next century.
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The probability that this is caused by natural climatic processes alone is less
than 5%.
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World temperatures could rise by between 1.1 and 6.4°C (2.0 and 11.5°F)
during the twenty-first century, and:
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