Defining the challenge for science in the assessment of climate change

Publication Year: 2006

Author(s): Rajendra K Pachauri

Abstract:

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established in 1988 and has since brought out three assessment reports as well as several special reports and technical papers. The Panel is currently progressing with the completion of the Fourth Assess- ment Report, all parts of which would be completed by the end of 2007. The AR-4, as this report has been labeled, would include several key features, which reflect the updated findings of the scientific commu- nity, addressing major challenges that exist in the area of climate change. All assessments by the IPCC are based on accessing and evaluating knowledge con- tained in peer-reviewed literature. Since the publication of the Third Assessment Report (TAR), significant advances have taken place in published literature and in our scientific understanding of the complex range of factors affecting the earth’s climate system. The TAR, for instance, had listed a number of key uncertainties, such as the magnitude and character of natural climate variability.

 

Source: Atmospheric Science Letters Vol . 7: 79–80p.

Publisher/Organisation: Wiley Interscience

URL: https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/asl.139