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Study: Radical Climate Change Just around the Corner
 [An Nahar] Earth may experience a radically different climate already within 34 years, forever changing life as we know it, said a study Wednesday that aims to bring the dangers of global warming into sharper focus.
| "We calculate a probability at the 99% confidence interval of between 0 and 1," concluded the study authors. |
On current trends of greenhouse-gas emissions, 2047 will mark the year at which the climate at most places on Earth will shift beyond documented extremes, it said.
| Or not, as the case may be. It depends if one believes the 73 IPCC models or the actual data, donchaknow. |
This date is pushed back to 2069 under a scenario in which fossil-fuel burning emissions are stabilized, said an analysis of climate projections published in the journal Nature.
| Anyone remember GIGO (garbage in, garbage out)? |
"The results shocked us," lead author Camilo Mora of the University of Hawaii's geography department said of the findings.
"Within my generation, whatever climate we are used to will be a thing of the past."
| In fact, everything we are or are not currently used to will then be things of the past, because we humans are capable of moving only one direction in time. |
Most climate studies predict average, global shifts by a randomly-chosen cutoff date like 2100.
| Yes. Yes, they do. Odd, that, given the data and all.. |
The new study took a different tack by distinguishing between different areas of the world, and seeking to identify the year in which climate change will cross the threshold where weather events once viewed as extreme become the norm.
| Remember the fate of Cassandra and beware. Nobody loves a true prophet, but everyone hates a false one. |
It looked at effects such as air and sea-surface temperature, rainfall and ocean acidity.
| What about thunderstorm formation ringing warm surface temperatures high into the atmosphere to be radiated out into space? Sunspot activity? Deep ocean currents? Increased plant growth in response to higher carbon dioxide levels? |
"Regardless of the scenario, changes will be coming soon," said Mora -- forcing species to adapt, move or die out.
| Yep. Even in these modern times evolution continues to occur. |
Posted by: Fred 2013-10-11 |
