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What is causing climate change?

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The increased emission of greenhouse gases during the 20th century is the only reasonable explanation for climate change.

The increased emission of greenhouse gases during the 20th century is the only reasonable explanation for climate change, an audience at the James Hutton Institute in Dundee were told today (Monday 19 March).

Professor Gabriele Hegerl, of the School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh was giving the Distinguished Women Scientists Seminar entitled "Understanding and attributing climate change" as part of the Women in Science Festival 2012.

Even taking into account natural variations, the impact of changes in the sun and occurrences like volcano eruptions, climate change could not be accounted for without considering the impact of greenhouse gases, she said.

She also pointed out that even if greenhouse gas emission levels were to remain constant in coming decades the world’s temperature would continue to increase as we were yet to experience the full impact of increased emissions during the second half of the 20th century.

Results on attributing climate change are not only useful for understanding why the climate has changed but can also be used to derive uncertainty ranges for future predictions. It is an important challenge to understand if greenhouse warming has already impacted ecosystems, agriculture and society; since disentangling different contributors to change is difficult for impacts of climate change.

Gabriele Hegerl is Professor of Climate System Science at the University of Edinburgh. Her interests are in the interface between climate modelling and climate observation with a focus on uncertainty, variability and change in climatic extremes and her research involves attributing climate change to different factors.

She has received significant recognition for her research including sharing in the 2007 Nobel Peace prize for her contribution as a lead author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

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Printed from /news/what-causing-climate-change on 29/03/24 11:46:52 AM

The James Hutton Research Institute is the result of the merger in April 2011 of MLURI and SCRI. This merger formed a new powerhouse for research into food, land use, and climate change.