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REPORTS - ASSESSMENT REPORTS |
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WG I The Scientific Basis - Technical Summary
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Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis |
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E.7 Remaining Uncertainties in Detection and Attribution
Some progress has been made in reducing uncertainty, though many of the sources
of uncertainty identified in the SAR still exist. These include:
- Discrepancies between the vertical profile of temperature change in the
troposphere seen in observations and models. These have been reduced as
more realistic forcing histories have been used in models, although not fully
resolved. Also, the difference between observed surface and lower-tropospheric
trends over the last two decades cannot be fully reproduced by model simulations.
- Large uncertainties in estimates of internal climate variability from models
and observations. Although as noted above, these are unlikely (bordering
on very unlikely) to be large enough to nullify the claim that a detectable
climate change has taken place.
- Considerable uncertainty in the reconstructions of solar and volcanic forcing
which are based on proxy or limited observational data for all but the last
two decades. Detection of the influence of greenhouse gases on climate
appears to be robust to possible amplification of the solar forcing by ozone-solar
or solar-cloud interactions, provided these do not alter the pattern or time-dependence
of the response to solar forcing. Amplification of the solar signal by these
processes, which are not yet included in models, remains speculative.
- Large uncertainties in anthropogenic forcing are associated with the effects
of aerosols. The effects of some anthropogenic factors, including organic
carbon, black carbon, biomass aerosols, and changes in land use, have not
been included in detection and attribution studies. Estimates of the size
and geographic pattern of the effects of these forcings vary considerably,
although individually their global effects are estimated to be relatively
small.
- Large differences in the response of different models to the same forcing.
These differences, which are often greater than the difference in response
in the same model with and without aerosol effects, highlight the large uncertainties
in climate change prediction and the need to quantify uncertainty and reduce
it through better observational data sets and model improvement.
E.8 Synopsis
In the light of new evidence and taking into account the remaining uncertainties,
most of the observed warming over the last 50 years is likely to have been due
to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations.
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