Enhancing the understanding of climate change

Expert scientists from across Australia have joined forces to enhance public understanding of climate change science through an innovative question-answer style report, launched yesterday.

The report is an initiative of the Australian Academy of Science and called on the expertise of nine scientists, including two from the University of Melbourne, Professor David Karoly from the School of Earth Sciences and Professor Ian Enting from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. Professor Andrew Gleadow from the School of Earth Sciences was also involved as a Fellow of the Academy on the Oversight Committee.

Professor Karoly says the report responds to the apparent confusion surrounding the science of climate change among many groups including the general public, businesses and policy makers.

‘I hope that the report leads to improved understanding of the science of climate change among the community - this will then support better decision making by the public, business leaders and policymakers on how to respond to climate change,’ he says.

The report covers all facets of climate change as the nine scientists on the working group represent a broad range of expertise in the many disciplines relevant to the field including atmospheric science, oceanography, palaeoclimate and glaciology.

The experts answer seven big questions of interest to the community, including what is climate change? are human activities causing climate change? and what are the consequences of climate change?

Professor Karoly says the main message in the report is that the Earth’s climate has changed as the global average surface temperature has increased over the last century and that greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are the main cause.

‘Even the lowest levels of expected warming over the 21st century would lead to a significantly different world from the one we now inhabit,’ he says.

?The likely consequences would include more heat waves, fewer cold spells, disturbances to marine and terrestrial ecosystems, loss of biodiversity, disruption to food production in some regions, rising sea levels, and decreases in Arctic ice cover.

‘While some aspects of these changes may be beneficial in some regions, the overall impacts are likely to be negative under the present structure of global society.’

A copy of the report can be accessed at: http://www.science.org.au/policy/climatechange2010/index.html