| Briefing Date: | 01/11/2000 |
Categories: Environment
| Topic: | Reconciling Observations of Global Temperature Change |
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources (CGER)
Panel on Reconciling Temperature Observations of the
Climate Research Committee
******
Congressional Briefing
Tuesday, January 11, 2000 -- 10:00 a.m.
1539 Longworth House Office Building
on
RECONCILING OBSERVATIONS OF GLOBAL TEMPERATURE CHANGE
by
DR. JOHN M. "MIKE" WALLACE -- Professor, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, and Chairman, Panel on Reconciling Temperature Observations of the Climate Research Committee, CGER, The National Academies
Measurements of global temperature are essential to understanding the nature of climate change. Over the past several years, concerns have been expressed that surface reports of temperature change do not agree with satellite measurements. Reconciling these differing temperature records has implications for assessing how much climate may have changed in the past few decades. This reconciliation also has implications for assessing whether observed climate changes are in agreement with model predictions of how climate may respond to increased concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases.
To try to clarify the issues associated with global measurements of temperature, a report of the Panel of the National Academies' Climate Research Committee was produced entitled, RECONCILING OBSERVATIONS OF GLOBAL TEMPERATURE CHANGE. The Chair of the Panel was Dr. John M. Wallace of the University of Washington, Seattle and consisted of experts on observations made by satellites, upper air balloons, and surface instruments. The panel examined the various measurements, their trends, and the uncertainties associated with them.
This briefing was for members of Congress and congressional staff only. The report was publicly released on January 12, 2000.
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