Stockholm: The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has released its assessment report on the current state of the world`s climate.
* Human influence on the climate system is clear
* Extremely likely - 95 per cent certainty - that humans are the dominant cause of global warming
* Average surface temperatures up 0.85 degrees since 1880
* World temperatures to rise 2-4.8 degrees by 2100
* The rate of sea-level rise since the mid-19th century has been larger than the mean rate during the previous two millennia
* Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide have increased to unprecedented levels in at least the last 800,000 years
* CO2 concentrations have increased by 40 percent since pre-industrial times, primarily from fossil fuel emissions and secondarily from net land use change emissions
* More frequent hot and fewer cold temperature extremes as temperature increase
* Heat waves will occur with higher frequency and duration. Occasional cold winter extremes will continue to occur
* The contrast in precipitation between wet and dry regions and between wet and dry seasons will increase
* Oceans will continue to warm during the 21st century.
* Heat will penetrate from the surface to the deep ocean and affect ocean circulation
* It is very likely that the Arctic Sea ice cover will continue to shrink and thin
* The Northern Hemisphere`s spring snow cover will decrease during the 21st century as the global mean surface temperature rises
IANS
