Unifying Themes

Learning from the past

What did the global patterns of temperature, precipitation, and wind look like during various periods in the earth’s history? How abruptly is climate capable of changing? What factors are instrumental in making climate change? What are the lessons for the future?

Determining the fate of greenhouse gases

What is the fate of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere? What are the land and ocean sources and sinks? What determines the concentrations of more reactive greenhouse gases such as methane? How will energy policy impact the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases? What technologies can help mitigate the introduction of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere?

Predicting future climate

How much is the earth likely to warm in response to the buildup of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere? How much does natural variability affect the accuracy of predictions? What research needs to be done in order to provide policy makers with more reliable projections?

Assessing the impacts of climate change

How do natural and human induced climate change impact ecosystems and societies? How serious are the risks of catastrophic impacts? Based on assessment of these risks, are costly measures warranted to reduce the rate of greenhouse warming? To what extent can the adverse impacts of climate change be alleviated if long range planning is informed by long range climate projections?

Interpreting current changes

Are the pronounced climate trends of the past few decades a sign of things to come or are they a manifestation of some longer term climate cycle that will eventually reverse itself? To what extent are these climate trends induced by human activities? Does the ocean merely respond passively to decade-to-decade climate changes or does it serve to amplify or even cause some of them?