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Notes

A dramatic climatic impact resulting from man’s industrial and agricultural activities is by now a fact. The most prominent greenhouse gas is CO2, which is released in huge quantities in energy production. Consequences of particular concern are a shift of climatic zones, sea level rise, lowering of the ocean’s pH, declining biodiversity and increasing weather extremes. Political response to the problem has been building up, none the least by the UN and the EU, with guidance provided by the recent IPCC 2007 report: The matter is urgent, as countermeasures will be become increasingly expensive if postponed. To anticipate the consequences and define ways to alleviate them is a major scientific challenge, to which physicists can contribute in various ways. The starting point is a prediction of temperature rises and their potential consequences. Climate and environmental system modelling has reached a state where the results agree adequately with many observations, but to provide a rational basis for political action, further refinement is necessary.