Implications of Global Warming for Natural Resources: Oversight Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Water and Power Resources of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundredth Congress, Second Session ... Hearings Held September 27, 1988: Washington, DC; October 17, 1988: San Francisco, CA.U.S. Government Printing Office, 1989 - 668 pages |
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activities agencies agricultural aquifers atmosphere average basins California carbon dioxide cause century chlorofluorocarbons climate models CO₂ coastal Committee Congress conservation crops decades decrease deforestation delta drought earth economic ecosystems efficiency emissions energy environmental estimates evapotranspiration Federal flood forests fossil fuels future GCMs global change global climate change global warming going greenhouse effect greenhouse gases HOLE RESEARCH CENTER hydrologic Ice Age ice sheet impacts important increase irrigation issue land methane MILLER million National natural nitrous oxide occur ocean ozone percent photosynthesis plants potential precipitation predict present problem processes production projects reduce regions require reservoirs response result runoff salinity San Francisco Bay scenario scientific scientists sea level rise sea-level change sediments snow soil solar sources species storage summer surface temperature trend tropospheric uncertainties understanding variability warmer water resources water supply wetlands WOODS HOLE RESEARCH Woodwell
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Page 175 - To describe and understand the interactive physical, chemical and biological processes that regulate the total Earth system, the unique environment that it provides for life, the changes that are occurring in this system, and the manner in which they are influenced by human activities.
Page 86 - IPCC was established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The role of the IPCC is to assess the scientific, technical and socio-economic information relevant to understanding the scientific basis of risk of human-induced climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation.
Page 404 - ... (A) slowing the rate of increase of concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere in the near term; and (B) stabilizing or reducing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases over the long term; and (4) work toward multilateral agreements. (b) FORMULATION OF UNITED STATES POLICY. — The President, through the Environmental Protection Agency, shall be responsible for developing and proposing to Congress a coordinated national policy on global climate change.
Page 403 - Report examines how hydrology, agriculture, forestry and infrastructure may change in four regions of the United States: the Southeast, the Great Lakes, California, and the Great Plains. These regions were chosen because of unique characteristics that each exhibits. The Southeast has unique ecosystems and much coastal activity, forestry, and agriculture. The Great Lakes are the largest source of fresh water in the world. California is a highly populated area with a high demand for, and a limited...
Page 30 - The seasonal test, however, does not indicate how well a model simulates such slow processes as changes in deep ocean circulation or ice cover, which may have an important effect on the decade to century time scales over which CO2 is expected to double.
Page 46 - A three-dimensional climate model has been used to compute the winter to summer temperature extremes all over the globe. The model's performance can be verified against the observed data shown below. This verification exercise shows that the model quite impressively reproduces many of the features of the seasonal cycle. These seasonal temperature differences are mostly larger than those occurring between ice ages and interglacials or for any plausible future carbon dioxide change.
Page 194 - ... a change in the aerosol loading of the troposphere; (ii) how the exchange of energy and trace gases between the ocean and the atmosphere may change, especially if the circulation patterns of the ocean change; (iii) how the exchange of energy, and trace gases will be impacted by changes in albedo (due to changes in land cover, and the extent of sea and land ice) and terrestrial vegetation; and (iv) how the climate and hydrologic cycle will interact...
Page 31 - ... performance in the above categories. Also Important are a model's response to such century-long forcings as the 25 percent Increase In carbon dioxide and other trace greenhouse gases since the Industrial Revolution. Indeed, most climatic models predict that a warming of some 1°C should have occurred during the past century. The precise "forecast...
Page 647 - Humanity is conducting an unintended, uncontrolled, globally pervasive experiment whose ultimate consequences could be second only to a global nuclear war.
Page 23 - Issues such as the likelihood that alternative energy systems or conservation measures will be available, their price, and their social acceptability. Furthermore, trade in fuel carbon (for example, a large scale transfer from coal-rich to coal-poor nations) will depend not only on the energy requirements and the available alternatives but also on the economic health of the potential Importing nations. This In turn will depend upon whether those nations have adequate capital resources to spend on...