A post-Paris look at climate observations

• Published in: Nature Geoscience
• Main Authors: Dolman, A. Johannes, Belward, Alan, Briggs, Stephen, Dowell, Mark, Eggleston, Simon, Hill, Katherine, Richter, Carolin, Simmons, Adrian
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Arctic; Climate change; Global warming; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/528597/; https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2785

The Paris Agreement1 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in December 2015 was a landmark event. Stakeholders such as cities, companies and citizens that endure the impacts of a changing climate, as well as policymakers, now need to know what impact their future choices will have on the environment. Systematic observations of the climate system and of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are needed to track progress and identify where additional goals may be needed. We suggest that, although the targets agreed in Paris — to hold global warming to well below 2 °C and avert loss and damage — are formulated around temperature, monitoring and meeting these targets requires a broader range of climate indicators2. Global mean surface temperature alone has proved problematic for communicating the impacts and evolution of climate change. The warming of the oceans, sea-level rise, increasing ocean acidity, melting glaciers and decreasing snow cover, and changes in Arctic sea ice also need to be taken into account.