Global Warming May Be More Severe Than We Thought, Study Finds

The Earth’s climate system may be far more sensitive to increasing amounts of greenhouse gases than many recent studies have found, which implies that steeper and faster emissions cuts will be necessary to keep warming below dangerous levels. The new research, which appeared this week in the journal Nature Climate Change, questions a central assumption of most of the studies investigating a scientific concept generally referred to as “climate sensitivity.”

The research found that the Earth is likely to experience nearly 20% more warming over the next several decades than past estimates have projected. Those previous studies were based in large part on recent surface temperature trends. Read more...