Scientists claim to have proved link between climate change and human activity
Sun 20 February 2005
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US-based scientists have found what they say is a certain link between man-made greenhouse gas emissions and the changing climate. The research findings are based on a direct correlation between a rise in sea temperatures over the last 40 years and carbon dioxide and other greenhouse emissions from human activities.
According to scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, the findings are crucial because most evidence to date has been based on observations of air temperatures which fluctuate much more widely than ocean temperatures.
The report, delivered to the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, concluded that the results could not be the result of natural variability in the climate system.
In an answer to a Parliamentary Question, Defra minister Lord Whitty outlined the Government's conclusions on the current state of the scientific debate on climate change following the major conferences in Exeter and in Houston, Texas. Lord Whitty said that the conferences demonstrated a growing consensus of opinion on the science of climate change.
He added that both conferences highlighted the serious global risk expected as a result of the changing climate and the need to adapt to those changes and also to reduce emissions to avoid dangerous climate change.
Related Links
Scripps Institute; climate change report press release
Hansard text of Parliamentary answer
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