02.12.2003 | Tuesday

Scientists assert warming is human driven

Two U.S. government scientists said Monday their research proves human activities are affecting global climate.

News: Thomas Karl, of the National Climatic Data Center in Camp Springs, Md., and Kevin Trenberth, head of the National Center for Atmospheric Researchs climate analysis section in Boulder, Colo., said their research proves industrial emissions have been the dominant influence on climate change for the past 50 years. The most important of these emissions is carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that traps solar radiation and warms the planet. CO2 levels have risen by 31 percent since pre-industrial times. Other human activities, such as emissions of sulfate and soot particles and the development of urban areas, cause significant but more localized climate effects. The likely result is more frequent heat waves, droughts, extreme precipitation events and related impacts (such as) wildfires, heat stress, vegetation changes and sea-level rise, which will be regionally dependent, the two scientists write in the Dec. 5 issue of the journal Science. If current emissions continue, they said, the world would face the fastest rate of climate change in at least the last 10,000 years. This could alter ocean currents and change existing climate patterns radically. (United Press International)