HR: 08:00h
AN: U51B-01 INVITED    [Abstracts]
TI: Climate Sensitivity
AU: * Hansen, J
EM: jhansen@giss.nasa.gov
AF: Director, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, 2880 Broadway, New York, 10025,
AU: * Hansen, J
EM: jhansen@giss.nasa.gov
AF: Adjunct Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Columbia University Earth Institute, Columbia University, New York, 10027,
AB: Discussion of climate sensitivity requires careful definition of forcings, feedbacks and response times, indeed, foggy definitions have produced flawed assessments of climate sensitivity. The best information available on climate sensitivity comes from insightful interpretation of the Earth's history aided by quantitative information from climate models and understanding of climate processes. Climate sensitivity is a strong function of time scale, in part because of the nature of climate feedbacks. Unfortunately for humanity, the preponderance of feedbacks on the century time scale appears to be positive. The chief implication is the need for a sharp reversal in the trend of human-made climate forcing, if we are to avoid creating a planet that is dramatically different than the one on which civilization developed.
DE: 1620 Climate dynamics (0429, 3309)
DE: 1621 Cryospheric change (0776)
DE: 1626 Global climate models (3337, 4928)
SC: Union [U]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting