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Earth Will Likely Be Much Warmer In 2100 Than We Anticipated, Scientists Warn (vice.com)

According to a new analysis of the most realistic climate models to date, global temperature rise by 2100 could be 15 percent higher than the highest projections from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). What this means is that cuts in greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide (CO2) will have to be even greater than expected to meet the Paris climate target of keeping global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius. Motherboard reports: The world is a long way from making sufficient emission reductions to meet the Paris climate targets to begin with -- nevermind cutting out another 15 percent. But there's some good news, too. Both rich and poor countries have begun to move away from coal and oil, the two biggest CO2 sources, according to many energy analysts. Patrick Brown is a researcher at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Pasadena, California, a co-author of the study published Wednesday in Nature. "Our results imply 15 percent less cumulative emissions than previously calculated [are needed] in order to stay below 2 degrees Celsius," he told me. Brown and co-authors focused on finding out what future warming might be, using only the climate models that best replicate observations over the last 15-20 years. On a business-as-usual emissions trajectory, they found that the mean global temperature rise would be 4.8 degrees Celsius by 2100, compared to the IPCC estimate of 4.3 degrees Celsius. The latter estimate is considered catastrophic for our planet, and would lead to sea level rise of over 30 feet, potentially putting the homes of 600 million people underwater.

10 of 379 comments (clear)

  1. Re:LOL by Rei · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Global warming is real, but a 30 foot sea level rise by 2100 is not. The article's source was this article, but note right off the bat: "It would be a steady climb, with sea levels taking centuries to rise this far." Not by 2100. Sea level rises in response to climate forcing take time, they don't happen the instant that the atmosphere gets hotter. And it's a curve that accelerates with time (most of the rise is backloaded). It can take much of a millennium for sea levels to adjust to new atmospheric conditions.

    For 2100, you're only looking at somewhere around 2m, give or take (up from previous ~1m estimates, which have been shown to underestimate accelerating rates of land ice loss). That said, the important thing is not the "2m higher on a typical day" aspect, but the "2m higher on top of storm surges" aspect.

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    Pinkypants -- my favorite!
  2. Re:LOL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    2m is _huge_. Just think of all of the coastal cities whose street level is within that height difference.

  3. So? by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I doubt that I'll live to see 125 years of age, as far as I care the Statue of Liberty can be flooded by then.

    Yes, I'm done trying to save your planet. I'll just use what I got and screw you. If you insist in ignoring science, you deserve to die. Along with your kids.

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    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  4. Global Warming news cycle by Hal_Porter · · Score: 4, Interesting

    1) The Science is Settled

    2) "Oh No, things are much worse than we thought". A story based on an outlier which makes apocalyptic predictions

    3) If anyone disputes this go to 1). Also accuse them of being an outlier which makes things seem less apocalyptic.

    By which process the future is both known with perfect accuracy and continuously getting worse unless we adopt some expensive policy. Actually if you read carefully almost no one globally is adopting these policies. The few places that did - Germany for example - found their CO2 emissions rising, and many that ignored them completely like the US found CO2 emissions falling due to a switch from coal to fracked gas.

    And if you look at instrument readings it's clear that the models overstated the amount of warming.

    See for example

    https://imgur.com/a/w5KKQ

    From this talk

    https://www.thegwpf.org/matt-r...

    Ironically people like Matt Ridley who get denounced as deniers are making predictions which are near the bottom of the range of the model predictions. Meanwhile environmental activists are making predictions which are way above that range.

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  5. Re: uh oh by sg_oneill · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Just look at all the accurate claims about what would happen by today. I've been hearing this crap since the 70s. They always make extreme claims that will happen just far enough over the horizon to be unassailable, but require immediate action...but the threat never materializes.

    I am comparing actual data to their dire predictions made 20 years ago and calling them on their shit. And, I will be the denier

    What predictions? That there will be increased temperature and more erratic weather? Check, that happened.
    That there would be meltoffs in the north and south poles? Check, that happened.
    That there would be increases in methane output from permafrost? Check that happened.
    That Cyclone and Tornado activity would increase? Check that happened.

    A few years ago we had a run of straight 40c+ days lasting nearly a month in my home town. Thats never happened before. Over on the east coast of australia , every goddamn year we've had flooding events for nearly a decade now, and its running havock on the economy.

    Its easy to put your fingers in your ears and try and nitpick predictions from 20 years ago at a time when modelling was in its infancy, whilst pretending the evidence in front of your very own eyes does not count somehow.

    But that doesn't make you "scientific" or "skeptical". It makes you a gullible fools who falls for manipulative conspiracy theories.

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  6. Re:LOL by GameboyRMH · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here you can see for yourself:

    http://geology.com/sea-level-r...

    Zoom up on the coasts of the US while toggling between 0m and 2m.

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    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  7. Sea level rise is not as big as disruption to agri by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 5, Interesting
    The temp change and sea level rise will be seen as a minor annoyance compared to the vast changes to agriculture that will happen.

    Weeds that were normally killed by the yearly frost, will survive winter. Insects that get killed by frost will survive and invade new niches.

    Lots of agricultural land, never under any threat of any sea level rise, might get rendered unusable for agriculture due the pests that do not start from scratch every year. Very large fluctuations in food supply can happen and it would trigger wars and migration like we have seen before. These are bigger threats than sea level rise. And why we immediately jump to sea level rise? Why is the media playing up the "sea level rise" doomsday a lot more than they deserve to? Any blood red Iowa farmer will tell you forsythia is blooming four weeks early now, croci are breaking ground in December, and daffodils and tulips are emerging in March. He will tell you the bugs that he has never seen before invading his property. But these stories are not getting the media attention.

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    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  8. Re: uh oh by EndlessNameless · · Score: 5, Informative

    I am comparing actual data to their dire predictions made 20 years ago and calling them on their shit. And, I will be the denier.

    The IPCC has done exactly this for years. The real outcomes have typically fallen in the "expected" to "bad" ranges, occasionally approaching the "worst case scenario" outcomes.

    The data have always fallen on the "bad" end of the scale. In fact, they've put some effort into figuring out why things like ice melt and sea rise consistently end up worse than the predicted mid-range. You may see some improbable claims on occasion, but overall the climate shift has exceeded predictions. Comparing old predictions to new data has consistently shown one thing: the level of alarm is justified, and perhaps it should be higher.

    When the expectations are bad outcomes and you consistently meet or exceed those expectations, you need to change what you're doing.

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    According to the latest ruleset, this post should be modded as Vorpal Flamebait +5.
  9. Re: uh oh by c6gunner · · Score: 4, Insightful

    lol. Wait, so if you have more storms, but by some fluke none of them actually hit land, then you actually have fewer storms?

    Hilarious!

  10. Re: uh oh by riverat1 · · Score: 4, Informative

    I had a similar experience but from a physical chemistry perspective. When you look at the IR+RAMAN spectra for CO2 and H2O it becomes clear that there is absolutely no amount of CO2 that will cause significant warming (the peaks from CO2 are already highly saturated, meaning adding more isn't going to make it any warmer--like having 50 washrags stacked on your chest and trying to get warm by stacking 50 more directly on top of them, where H2O is like a blanket).

    Any observed warming can be easily explained with water vapor concentrations, which have also been increasing. The method to deal with that kind of warming doesn't involve shutting down all industry in the world and instituting global communism. In fact, since H2O is in such a tight equilibrium that warming can be fixed in a few days if it becomes bad enough that we have to do it.

    You might want to read these articles about why your "CO2 is saturated" argument is wrong:

    A saturated gassy argument

    A saturated gassy argument - Part II

    Also, I'm curious how you think we can fix the warming in a few days by doing something about water vapor? With over 70% of the planet covered by water I don't see any way of significantly affecting the level of water vapor in the atmosphere.