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Reducing uncertainty about carbon dioxide as a climate driver

Nature volume 419, pages 188–190 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

The lack of an adequate ancient analogue for future climates means that we ultimately must use and trust climate models, evaluated against modern observation and our best geologic records of warm and cold climates of the past. Armed with an elevated confidence in the models, we will then be able to make reliable predictions of the Earth's response to our risky experiment with the climate system.

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Figure 1: The variations in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and relative changes in air temperature determined from the Vostok, Antarctica ice core are tightly correlated and reveal no obvious, substantial lead–lag relationship.

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Acknowledgements

I thank R. Alley, M. Arthur and R. Pierrehumbert for their constructive criticism of drafts of this commentary. Research on ancient environments by L.R.K. at Penn State is supported by grants from NSF Biocomplexity, Geology and Paleontology, and NASA Astrobiology programmes.

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  1. Department of Geosciences and NASA Astrobiology Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, 16802, USA

    Lee R. Kump

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Correspondence to Lee R. Kump.

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Kump, L. Reducing uncertainty about carbon dioxide as a climate driver. Nature 419, 188–190 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01087

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