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Tuesday, December 18, 2007 How Do We Know What We Know About Climate Change? The definitive word on climate change science was released this year. Did that word reach the public effectively? Scripps Institution of Oceanography / University of California, San Diego American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2007 What do we really know about global warming, and how do we know it? An international group of experts has just completed a thorough assessment of recent research on climate change science.  Lynne Talley, a Scripps oceanographer and lead author of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, addresses the media at a press conference following the report's Feb. 2 release. But despite the international media coverage the report received this year and the awarding to the IPCC a share of the Nobel Peace Prize, surveys and opinion polls suggest that misconceptions about the state of climate change research abound. Richard Somerville, a Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego climate researcher and a coordinating lead author of the IPCC report, will summarize the key scientific findings of the IPCC report and explain why the scientists have reached these conclusions. He will also discuss the challenges faced by scientists and the media in making these conclusions understood by the public.  Scripps researcher and IPCC coordinating lead author Richard Somerville. The IPCC has become the de facto voice of the mainstream scientific community, as the world seeks to understand the findings of climate science and their relevance to public policy. The panel has been immensely influential in the debate over human-caused climate change, and it has affected efforts to limit the emissions of gases that increase the greenhouse effect and cause global warming. The IPCC was established in 1988 to provide an authoritative assessment of results from climate science as an input to policymakers. Its mandate is to assess research, not to do research. Its reports are policy-relevant but not policy-prescriptive. Thousands of scientists throughout the world have contributed to the IPCC effort. The latest (2007) IPCC reports are available at http://www.ipcc.ch # # # Note to broadcast and cable producers: University of California, San Diego provides an on-campus satellite uplink facility for live or pre-recorded television interviews. Please phone or e-mail the media contact listed above to arrange an interview. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, at University of California, San Diego, is one of the oldest, largest and most important centers for global science research and education in the world. The National Research Council has ranked Scripps first in faculty quality among oceanography programs nationwide Now in its second century of discovery, the scientific scope of the institution has grown to include biological, physical, chemical, geological, geophysical and atmospheric studies of the earth as a system. Hundreds of research programs covering a wide range of scientific areas are under way today in 65 countries. The institution has a staff of about 1,300, and annual expenditures of approximately $155 million from federal, state and private sources. Scripps operates one of the largest U.S. academic fleets with four oceanographic research ships and one research platform for worldwide exploration. |
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