STATEMENT TO THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON ENERGY INDEPENDENCE AND GLOBAL WARMING OF THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Hearing on “Dangerous Climate Change”

• Main Author: Judith A. Curry
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2007
• Subjects: Arctic; Climate change; Global warming
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.692.2345; http://www.eas.gatech.edu/sites/default/files/Curry_Energy.pdf

I thank the Chairman and the Committee for the opportunity to offer testimony this morning on "Dangerous Climate Change. " As a climate scientist, I have devoted 25 years to conducting research on a variety of topics including climate feedback processes in the Arctic, the exchange of energy between the ocean and the atmosphere, the role of clouds in the climate system, and most recently the impact of climate change on the characteristics of tropical cyclones. The devastating 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons, combined with the publication of two papers linking increased hurricane intensity to climate change (Emanuel 2005; Webster et al. 2005), for the first time made the public realize that one degree warming could potentially have dangerous consequences if this warming made future hurricanes like Katrina more likely. Hurricane-induced economic losses have increased steadily in the U.S. during the past 50 years, with estimated total losses averaging $36 billion per year during the last 5 years (IPCC AR4 2007a). During 2004 and 2005, nearly 2000 lost lives were attributed to landfalling hurricanes. To place the U.S. vulnerability in perspective, 50 % of the U.S. population lives within 50 miles of a coastline. The physical infrastructure along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts represents an investment of over $3 trillion; over the next several decades this investment is expected to double.