Latest Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research Stories
The article "Tipping elements in the Earth's climate system" has been named one of the most highly-cited in the field of Geosciences published during the past two years. The media corporation Thomson Reuters has identified the article that appeared in the journal "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" in February 2008 as a New Hot Paper."The article captures the Zeitgeist of a growing group of climate scientists who perceive that human activities are already pushing Earth's climate...
According to a study released on Wednesday, humanity must burn less than a quarter of its proven fossil fuels by 2050 to be able to stop global warming.The paper, which appears in the British journal Nature, says an energy revolution must take place if the world is to meet the goal of limiting global warming to less than 3.8 degrees Fahrenheit above pre-industrial levels.According to the study, this means only 1,000 billion tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) can be emitted between 2000 and...
A poll of scientists, released on Tuesday, showed that global warming is likely to overshoot a 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit rise, seen by the European Union and many developing nations as a trigger for "dangerous" change, Reuters reported.The evidence that mankind is to blame for climate change has grown stronger in the past two years, according to 9 of the 11 experts, who were among the authors of the final summary by the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007...
A poll of experts finds that a dramatic climate shift such as the death of the Amazon forest or the disappearance of Greenland's ice is more than 50 percent likely during the next 200 years under the worst case global warming scenarios.The survey of 52 scientists also revealed concerns that long-term global warming would spur drastic changes such as the disintegration of the ice sheet in West Antarctica, something that would raise world sea levels."There's concern about the risks of...
Increased levels of climate change in parts of the northern hemisphere are expected to continue to rise, effectively reducing the likelihood of a "white Christmas," meteorology experts reported on Monday. Even though heavy snow this year will guarantee a white Christmas in many parts of Asia, Europe and North America, a 1.3-degree Fahrenheit rise in world temperatures since 1900 and projected bigger rises by 2100 suggest an inexorable trend."The probability of snow on the ground at Christmas...
A new study suggests one in five of Germany's plant species could lose parts of its current range due to global warming. Researchers from Germany's Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, along with the French Laboratory for Alpine Ecology, said such species distribution will be the result of climate change and might have a dramatic impact, particularly on the vegetation in southwestern and eastern Germany. The researchers modeled...
Climate change alters growing conditions in many regions of the world. How global warming could affect Germany's flora researchers have now simulated using computer models.One in five of Germany's plant species could lose parts of its current range, a study by scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the French Laboratoire d'Ecologie Alpine reveals. Species distributions will be rearranged as a result of...
