Climate Scientists adjust 2100 world temperatures upwards.
New research carried out at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Dorset and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the USA has confirmed that world temperatures at the end of the 21st century could be a lot higher than expected.
It was believed that the world would be between 1.4 and 5.8 degrees higher by 2100. However, scientists have based this calculation on incomplete climate models, which did not include important and powerful feedback mechanism.
25th May 2006
carbon-info.org
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Scientists have long known that when the temperature rises, the oceans are unable to hold as much carbon as normal. This means that less is absorbed from the atmosphere, which is expected to push carbon levels upwards dramatically over a period of 50-80 years.
A similar situation exists with soil, which are unable to lock away carbon at the normal rate as the temperature rises. This is mainly because natural processes speeds up such as decomposing of organic materials.
The combined impact of the negative ocean and soil feedback mechanism is estimated to be between 20-80%. The world temperature by the end of the 2100 century therefore needs to be adjusted upwards and is more likely to be between 1.6 and 6.1 degrees.
