Climate Change Science Program Report on Atmospheric Temperature Trends Released

Summary

A briefing and discussion on the recently released Climate Change Science Program Synthesis and Assessment Report 1.1 entitled “Temperature Trends in the Lower Atmosphere: Steps for Understanding and Reconciling Differences,” will take place 9am-11am, Wednesday May 17, at Department of Commerce Herbert C. Hoover Building Auditorium. Several scientists including Department of Energy-sponsored Principal Investigators contributed to the report and will be participating in the discussion. The report tackles some of the long-standing difficulties that have impeded understanding of changes in atmospheric temperatures and the basic causes of these changes. According to the published report, there is no longer a discrepancy in the rate of global average temperature increase for the surface compared with higher levels in the atmosphere. This discrepancy had previously been used to challenge the validity of climate models used to detect and attribute the causes of observed climate change. This is an important revision to and update of the conclusions of earlier reports from the U.S. National Research Council and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.