New Climate Report Foresees Big Changes. By Andrew C. Revkin, NYTimes, May 28, 2008. "The rise in concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere from human activities is influencing climate patterns and vegetation across the U.S. and will significantly disrupt water supplies, agriculture, forestry and ecosystems for decades, a new federal report, [released yesterday,] says. The changes are unfolding in ways that are likely to produce an uneven national map of harms and benefits... The authors... and some independent experts said the main value of its projections was the level of detail and the high confidence in some conclusions [which] comes in part from... emphasis on the next 25 to 50 years, when shifts in emissions are unlikely to make much of a difference in climate trends... The 203-page report... is a review of existing studies, including last year's... from the IPCC. It is part of a continuing assessment of lingering questions related to global warming that was initiated in 2003 by Mr. Bush... The West will not only face a dearth of water, but also large shifts in when it is available. Water supplies there will be transformed by mid-century, with mountain snows that provided a steady flow of runoff for irrigation and reservoirs dwindling. That flow will be replaced by rainfall that comes at times and in amounts that make it hard to manage."
2008-05-28
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