UN dossier 'ends all climate-change doubt' [Scotsman, UK]

Brace Yourselves

The report predicts:

• Temperatures are likely to rise by between 2C and 4.5C above pre-industrial levels if concentrations are kept at 550 parts per million in the atmosphere, as against about 380 now. The "best estimate" for the rise is about 3C.

• The warming is unlikely to be less than 1.5C.

• It is "very likely" that extremes such as heatwaves and heavy rains will become more frequent. Arctic sea ice could disappear in summer by the latter part of the 21st century in some projections. Warming is expected to be greatest over land and at high northern latitudes and least over the Southern Ocean and North Atlantic.

• Antarctica is likely to stay too cold for wide surface melting and is expected to gain in mass due to a rise in snowfall.

• A system of Atlantic currents including the Gulf Stream, bringing warm waters northwards, are likely to slow by 2100, but an overall warming will more than offset any cooling effect.