Global Climate Change and Greenhouse Emissions: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Health and the Environment of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives, One Hundred Second Congress, First Session, February 21 and August 1, 1991, Volume 4

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Page 214 - Change which has as its objective: to achieve stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations . . . at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system...
Page 339 - Earth warmer than it would otherwise be. emissions resulting from human activities are substantially increasing the atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and nitrous oxide. These increases will enhance the greenhouse effect, resulting on average in an additional warming of the Earth's surface.
Page 214 - The size of this warming is broadly consistent with predictions of climate models, but it is also of the same magnitude as natural climate variability. Thus, the observed temperature increase could be largely due to natural variability; alternatively, this variability and other human factors could have offset a still larger human-induced greenhouse warming.
Page 344 - ... per decade), mainly due to thermal expansion of the oceans and the melting of some land ice. The predicted rise is about 20cm in global mean sea level by 2030. and 65cm by the end of the next century.
Page 344 - A) emissions of greenhouse gases, a rate of increase of global mean temperature during the next century of about 0.3°C per decade (with an uncertainty range of 0.2°C to 0.5°C per decade); this is greater than that seen over the past 10, 000 years.
Page 87 - On balance, the evidence suggests that in the face of estimated changes of climate, food production at the global level can be maintained at essentially the same level as would have occurred without climate change; however, the cost of achieving this is unclear. Nonetheless, climate change may intensify difficulties in coping with rapid population growth. An increase or change in UV-B radiation at ground level resulting from the depletion of stratospheric ozone will have a negative impact on crops...
Page 359 - This index defines the time-integrated warming effect due to an instantaneous release of unit mass (1 kg) of a given greenhouse gas in today's atmosphere, relative to that of carbon dioxide. The relative importances will change in the future as atmospheric composition changes because, although radiative forcing increases in direct proportion to the concentration of CFCs, changes in the other greenhouse gases (particularly carbon dioxide) have an effect on forcing which is much less than proportional.
Page 78 - Science and Applications Division Office of Space Science and Applications NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION before the Subcommittee on Space Science and Applications Committee on Science and Technology House of Representatives Mr.
Page 87 - Horticultural production in mid-latitude regions may be reduced. On the other hand, cereal production could increase in northern Europe. Policy responses directed to breeding new plant cultivars, and agricultural management designed to cope with changed climate conditions, could lessen the severity of regional impacts. On the balance, the evidence suggests that in the face of estimated changes of climate, food production at the global level can be maintained at essentially the same level as would...
Page 85 - ... the size of this warming is broadly consistent with predictions of climate models, but it is also of the same magnitude as natural climate variability. Thus the observed increase could be largely due to this natural variability; alternatively this variability and other human factors could have offset a still larger human-induced greenhouse warming; • the unequivocal detection of the enhanced greenhouse effect from observations is not likely for a decade or more.

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