Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
Whatman Inc.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 8 August 1975:
Vol. 189. no. 4201, pp. 460 - 463
DOI: 10.1126/science.189.4201.460
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Articles

Climatic Change: Are We on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming?

Wallace S. Broecker 1

1 Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory and Department of Geological Sciences, Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964

If man-made dust is unimportant as a major cause of climatic change, then a strong case can be made that the present cooling trend will, within a decade or so, give way to a pronounced warming induced by carbon dioxide. By analogy with similar events in the past, the natural climatic cooling which, since 1940, has more than compensated for the carbon dioxide effect, will soon bottom out. Once this happens, the exponential rise in the atmospheric carbon dioxide content will tend to become a significant factor and by early in the next century will have driven the mean planetary temperature beyond the limits experienced during the last 1000 years.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Paradigm shifts in late-Holocene climatology?.
F. M. Chambers, F. M. Chambers, and S. A. Brain (2002)
The Holocene 12, 239-249
   Abstract »    PDF »
Climate Impact of Increasing Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide.
J. Hansen, J. Hansen, D. Johnson, A. Lacis, S. Lebedeff, P. Lee, D. Rind, and G. Russell (1981)
Science 213, 957-966
   Abstract »    PDF »
Modeling the Climatic Response to Orbital Variations.
J. Imbrie, J. Imbrie, and J. Z. Imbrie (1980)
Science 207, 943-953
   Abstract »    PDF »
The "Little Ice Age": Northern Hemisphere Average Observations and Model Calculations.
A. Robock and A. ROBOCK (1979)
Science 206, 1402-1404
   Abstract »    PDF »
A Terminal Mesozoic "Greenhouse": Lessons from the Past.
D. M. McLean and D. M. McLean (1978)
Science 201, 401-406
   Abstract »    PDF »
Predicting Future Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Levels.
U. Siegenthaler, U. Siegenthaler, and H. Oeschger (1978)
Science 199, 388-395
   Abstract »    PDF »
Greenhouse Effects due to Man-Made Perturbations of Trace Gases.
W. C. Wang, Y. L. Yung, A. A. Lacis, T. Mo, and J. E. Hansen (1976)
Science 194, 685-690
   Abstract »    PDF »
Global Cooling?.
P. E. Damon, P. E. Damon, and S. M. Kunen (1976)
Science 193, 447-453
   Abstract »    PDF »
The 1,800-year oceanic tidal cycle: A possible cause of rapid climate change.
C. D. Keeling and T. P. Whorf (2000)
PNAS 97, 3814-3819
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products