Global Warming Update
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UN experts on climate change fear that air temperatures that have sparked the global warming crisis may increase by up 10 and a half degrees Fahrenheit over the next century. This is about the same difference between now and the last ice age 12,000 years ago. Previously the global warming forecast was no more than seven degrees before 2100. Hi I'm Dave Thurlow for the Weather Notebook.

This September finding caused the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to boost its estimate of the rise in the Earth's air temperature, according to statement released by IPCC chairman Robert Watson.

More and more evidence suggests the Earth's atmosphere has been warming for nearly 150 years as a result of carbon dioxide and other gasses caused by burning oil, gas and coal. The increase is projected to continue over the next 100 years. The debate about whether or not the earth is warming and why it's warming has all but vanished.

This finding goes along with another recent study which analyzed the freeze and thaw cycles of lakes and rivers in the northern hemisphere. It states that the earth may have already warmed more than thought. These findings conclude that over the last 150 years the increasingly earlier melting and later freezing corresponds to a three and a quarter degree warming, twice what has been estimated by the IPCC.

Some believe that even figures at the lower end of the forcasted range spell disaster for small island states and low-lying delta regions, which could be drowned. As warmer weather causes the polar ice caps to shrink and the oceans to expand, a six to 37 inch rise in sea level is expected, creating tens of millions of "climate refugees".

Although climatologists agree that the air will be warmer, they remain divided as to how this trend will affect the world's weather. But the ultimate question isn't about what will happen, instead it's about our preparedness to deal with what looks to be increasing likely to happen.

Our show is made possible by the National Science Foundation.