Paths out of uncertainty: Increasing extreme confidence
Sunday, November 17, 2013 - 13:30
in Earth & Climate
Long-term and average changes are in the focus of the discussion on climate change: globally, as the different scientific climate models all predict, it will be warmer on Earth at the end of the century. For decision-makers and people affected by climate change, however, information on the frequency and intensity of extreme events such as heat and cold extremes, heavy rainfall or dry spells are at least as important as indications of average values. Moreover, for them projections about the next ten, twenty, thirty or forty years are usually more relevant than the long-term view to the end of the century. The problem: for the short and medium term, the models yield extremely different results.