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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Climate research priorities in the DOE CO/sub 2/ program

Conference ·
OSTI ID:6451964
A four-pronged approach to considering the climate aspects of the CO/sub 2/ issue has been developed. First, a variety of climate models are being improved, particularly in terms of their representation of the oceans, so that their simulation of the regional and temporal response to increasing CO/sub 2/ can be made more realistic. Second, past climatic situations, particularly warm periods, are being studied as possible analogs for the warmer conditions that increased CO/sub 2/ concentrations are expected to induce. Third, the results of model and past climate studies will be combined so that comprehensive scenarios can be assembled for use in assessment studies. Finally, a research program is being developed that will seek early evidence to determine whether the climate is responding to increasing CO/sub 2/. Present results indicate that the climatic change from doubled CO/sub 2/ will be greater than 1.5/sup 0/K, but that identifying evidence of such changes in the next twenty years will be difficult unless past climate variations and their causes are better understood.
Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
OSTI ID:
6451964
Report Number(s):
UCRL-85753; CONF-810687-2; ON: DE81024212
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English