Worst case scenario
Conference
·
OSTI ID:577161
Evidence from paleoarchives clearly demonstrates that the Earth`s climate system must have multiple states of operation which differ greatly in regional temperature, rainfall, and dustiness. Transitions between these states were abrupt occurring in a few decades. During the last 10,000 years, the Earth has been spared of these climate jumps. However during the previous 100,000 years, one such jump occurred two thousand or so years. To date, models of the ocean-atmosphere system have revealed that the oceans` thermohaline circulation is subject to mode switches. But none has captured the large globe-spanning atmospheric changes so clearly revealed in the records kept in ice and sediment. So in adding greenhouse gases to our atmosphere, we poke on ornery beast. Hopefully, this nudge will not cause climate to leap into another of its states.
- OSTI ID:
- 577161
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-970522--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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