POLICY FORUM ENVIRONMENT C limate Climate Change Science:

• Main Author: David A. King
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; Climate change; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.361.9880; http://fire.pppl.gov/gcc_king_science_010904.pdf

change is real, and the causal link to increased greenhouse emissions is now well established. Globally, the ten hottest years on record have occurred since 1991, and in the past century, temperatures have risen by about 0.6°C (1). In that same period, global sea level has risen by about 20 cm—partly from melting of land ice and partly from thermal expansion of the oceans. Ice caps are disappearing from many mountain peaks (2, 3), and summer and autumn Arctic sea ice has thinned by up to 40 % in recent decades, although there is some evidence for stabilization (4, 5). In Britain, usage of the Thames