IPCC Roundup: Early Reports Focus on Warming ‘Hiatus’
A key portion of the long awaited Fifth Assessment Report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is slated to be released on Friday in Stockholm, where
IPCC Roundup: Early Reports Focus on Warming ‘Hiatus’
A key portion of the long awaited Fifth Assessment Report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is slated to be released on Friday in Stockholm, where scientists and government representatives are currently meeting to finalize the report’s language. In addition to our original reporting and analysis, each day this week Climate Central will be providing a rundown on the best of news that is being reported elsewhere regarding the IPCC report.
Global-mean temperature (ºC) and CO2 (ppm) for 1971-2012.Temperature is represented in terms of deviation from 1980-1999 average. Both are based on annual mean values.The temperature for the hiatus period is highlighted.
Click image to enlarge. Credit: Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Much of the early news has focused on the so-called global warming "hiatus" and how the document will treat the slowdown in the rate of global warming that has taken place during the past decade. Recent studies, some of which did not make it to publication until after the IPCC’s cutoff deadline of March 15, 2013, have pointed to a variety of possible causes. Some have to do with natural sources of climate variability, such as sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. Others concern manmade and natural emissions of particles that can temporarily cool the climate.
According to the BBC, many of the governments that weigh in on the wording of the report’s Summary for Policymakers, which is the most intensely scrutinized and widely-read part of the report, “are demanding a clearer explanation” for the warming slowdown than what was contained in report drafts.
“... This week, when the scientists will go through their summary line by line with officials from 195 governments, the pause is likely to be the focus of heated debate,” the BBC reported.
Bloomberg News suggests that the recent global warming slowdown poses a significant hurdle for scientists and policymakers seeking to raise awareness and promote action on global warming, since it introduces confusion about whether the globe is, in fact, warming. “The findings muddy the picture about how much carbon dioxide output is affecting the climate, giving ammunition to those who doubt the issue needs urgent action,” Bloomberg said.
Monte Morin of the Los Angeles Times also examined the global warming slowdown, playing up the possibility of a “heated debate” between report authors over what to say about it. “For the general public, the existence of the hiatus has been difficult to reconcile with reports of record-breaking summer heat and precedent-setting Arctic ice melts,” Morin wrote. “At the same time, those who deny the tenets of climate change sci