Jump to content

Talk:Climate change

Page contents not supported in other languages.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Featured articleClimate change is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so.
Main Page trophyThis article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on June 21, 2006, and on October 31, 2021.
In the news Article milestones
DateProcessResult
February 28, 2006Peer reviewReviewed
May 17, 2006Featured article candidatePromoted
May 4, 2007Featured article reviewKept
March 26, 2020Peer reviewReviewed
January 21, 2021Featured article reviewKept
In the news News items involving this article were featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "In the news" column on March 5, 2004, and October 11, 2018.
Current status: Featured article

Carbon capture rates for CCS

[edit]

Hi everyone. I have a few proposals regarding statements on carbon capture and storage in this article. Here's my first proposal. We have an unsourced sentence that says:

Where energy production or CO2-intensive heavy industries continue to produce waste CO2, the gas can be captured and stored instead of released to the atmosphere.

I propose changing it to:

Where energy production or CO2-intensive heavy industries continue to produce waste CO2, technology can sometimes be used to capture and store most of the gas instead of releasing it to the atmosphere.[1]

As explained in the World Resources Institute source, "today’s carbon capture systems do not capture 100% of emissions. Most are designed to capture 90%, but reported capture rates are lower in some cases." Additionally, it is not economically or geologically feasible to deploy CCS at all or even most facilities. There are 2,400 coal power plants in the world and thus far we have managed to add CCS to four of them. Clayoquot (talk | contribs) 21:41, 24 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Done. Clayoquot (talk | contribs) 20:30, 30 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

References

  1. ^ Lebling, Katie; Gangotra, Ankita; Hausker, Karl; Byrum, Zachary (2023-11-13). "7 Things to Know About Carbon Capture, Utilization and Sequestration". World Resources Institute.

Carbon sequestration section

[edit]

The Carbon sequestration section has contents that describe carbon dioxide removal and carbon capture and storage. These three concepts are often confused. The vast majority of carbon sequestration happens through spontaneous, non-anthropogenic processes that have been going on for hundreds of millions of years and will continue if we just leave the forests alone. Most of the content in this section is about human activity that aims to increase the amount of carbon that is sequestered, i.e. carbon dioxide removal. There is also some content on carbon capture and storage, which technically involves sequestration but is usually deployed in processes that desequester more carbon than they sequester.

I propose 1) Retitling this section as "Carbon dioxide removal" and 2) Moving the two sentences on CCS to the end of the first paragraph in the "Clean energy" section. Clayoquot (talk | contribs) 20:11, 25 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Done. Clayoquot (talk | contribs) 20:36, 30 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Paper about our work & suggestions

[edit]

A paper by Olivia Steiert came out on the work we do here, analysing how our group dynamics and our interpretation of policies and guidelines resulted in the current article.

The paper analyses whether we consider climate change as an event (vs process), and if we call it a crisis. It's somewhat critical of us doing neither sufficiently clearly. The paper doesn't give that many pointers how we could achieve this however. We've made progress over the last 6 years in changing the article to be more about climate change now, rather than climate change in the future, but I wonder if there is more to do here. (changing the crisis framing is a discussion I won't reopen). If there are no objections, I might send Steiert an email asking her to join us. In the meantime, I'm suggesting two changes in the lead

The current rise in global average temperature is primarily caused by humans burning fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution -->

Amplified warming in the Arctic has contributed to thawing permafrost, retreat of glaciers and sea ice decline --> something in the present tense. I'd suggest leaving out polar amplification too. The quote doesn't fully capture this sentence anyway, and the source doesn't make the connection between polar amplification and these specific impacts. —Femke 🐦 (talk) 19:44, 30 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for sharing this, interesting article. The study uses the May 2022 version of this article, I wonder what she'd think of the current version.
As for the sentence, The current rise in..., I believe we had added "since the Industrial Revolution" to clarify what is meant by current. Bogazicili (talk) 17:50, 31 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Upon reflection, I'd like to keep since the Industrial Revolution. One of the criticism in the article is that we are vague in terms of our tenses. When things happened, are happening, or will happen. (Why is it so hard to arrive at a clear understanding of when climate change is happening and why do temporal constructions of this event vary so broadly)
since the Industrial Revolution gives precision and clarity to that sentence. I think it accurately describes rough timescale of human-induced climate change.
Other overview sources might say things like The industrial activities that our modern civilization depends upon have raised atmospheric carbon dioxide levels by nearly 50% since 1750[1]
If you click Industrial Revolution, it largely matches with above: Beginning in Great Britain, the Industrial Revolution spread to continental Europe and the United States, from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. Bogazicili (talk) 14:44, 1 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
My thinking here is that "since the industrial revolution" may be a bit misleading, in the sense that most warming really happened in the last 50 years, rather than over such a long period of time. I'm also appreciating the simplicity of the POTD description below, and would like to move away from a WP:seaofblue in terms of number of links. —Femke 🐦 (talk) 17:13, 1 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

That's a very good point, but I think we should add that (in the last 50 years part) into the lead, instead of removing "since the Industrial Revolution" part. I know you value conciseness but I think this time precision beats conciseness.

Again, the study was up to May 2022 version of this article. This is the 31 May 2022 version of the article. I think the current version of the lead is much more precise, as we define since when the current climate change has been happening. Industrial activities (NASA source) started with industrial revolution. Of course it was limited in 18th century. In 19th century it was few countries (UK etc), with coal etc. With technology (oil etc) and more countries industrializing, warming increased in 20th century, which is your point.

Also note that many cumulative emissions graphs go back to 1750 Our World in Data. I'll check few more sources tomorrow, including WP:Tertiary sources, to see how they cover it. Bogazicili (talk) 17:38, 2 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The prose quality of the first paragraph was definitely better in that version at least. I don't think "adding to greenhouse gases" is correct English. If I can find time, I might suggest a new version of our opening in a separate discussion section.
My guess is that many sources don't talk about "industrial revolution" in their first paragraph, instead only use that when they go into the weeds of the topic.
—Femke 🐦 (talk) 18:03, 2 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Femke: here are some WP:Tertiary sources I found with Oxford Reference Online database through Wikipedia Library.

There are lots of results. Only some of them are below:

The first two have detailed entries. I'd recommend you to check them:

The term global warming has become synonymous in the press with human-induced climate change. ... Carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere have increased such that 2009 values of about 385 ppmv are over 36 percent higher than preindustrial values of 280 ppmv and over half that increase has occurred since 1970 (Figure 1).

Climate Change entry:

An Overview
... During the past two centuries, anthropogenic activity has resulted in large increases in the atmospheric greenhouse gas content, which has caused a detectable increase in global temperatures and are predicted to continue to increase for many decades before the climate system reaches a new equilibrium. [See Greenhouse Effect; and Global Warming.] ...

Global warming entry:

..Levels rose to 275 ppmv during the warm interglacial phases, and that level is also considered representative of the preindustrial era of the nineteenth century...

The two below have shorter entries:

By the way, there is an entire encyclopedia on climate change communication, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Climate Change Communication.

I think we should mention something like pre-industrial in the first paragraph. But we can shift things around. For example, the last sentence in first paragraph cites IPCC AR6 WG1 Technical Summary 2021, p. 67. That page mentions:

Since 1750, changes in the drivers of the climate system are dominated by the warming influence of increases in atmospheric GHG concentrations and a cooling influence from aerosols, both resulting from human activities

p.4:

Observed increases in well-mixed greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations since around 1750 are unequivocally caused by human activities

I'll make my proposal below in a new section Bogazicili (talk) 19:02, 3 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Article housekeeping

[edit]

Thanks Femke for removing unused references and other tidying. I could pitch in to help with that kind of thing for an hour or two this week. What else needs to be done? Clayoquot (talk | contribs) 02:26, 31 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Just to let you know, I intend to clean up after myself, but got sidetracked. For the areas I edited, some of the citations aren't to chapters but to overall IPCC reports. I'll be fixing those. Bogazicili (talk) 16:54, 31 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks Bogazicili!
In terms of housekeeping, I try to do the following every one/two years:
  • See if overcitation has slipped in, which is often a red flag for text-source integrity issues. One example is overcitation after "Smaller contributions come from black carbon, organic carbon from combustion of fossil fuels and biofuels, and from anthropogenic dust", which has 6 sources. (I you could help here!)
  • Check if jargon such as anthropogenic has slipped back in, and reword using plain English
  • Reread the article, and check if there is text-source integrity for surprising statements
  • Reread the article, and update numbers which need updating.
—Femke 🐦 (talk) 17:19, 1 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Not that big of an issue, but the source formatting is also slightly messy and inconsistent in places (e.g. Harvnb is used for most things but not all, some things are missing various fields, etc). Sgubaldo (talk) 19:17, 1 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Wow, that's a lot of work that you've been doing regularly! I'll take on the overcitation thing. Will indicate here when I've finished checking. Clayoquot (talk | contribs) 19:42, 1 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I'll have much more time to work on this tomorrow (Sunday). I think I added most of the AR6 citations. I'll be fixing those tomorrow. And then I can also pitch in with the rest of the housekeeping. Bogazicili (talk) 17:18, 2 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I think I fixed the parts I had added. Bogazicili (talk) 20:31, 5 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
[edit]

Hello! This is to let editors know that File:1880- Global surface temperature - heat map animation - NASA SVS.webm, a featured picture used in this article, has been selected as the English Wikipedia's picture of the day (POTD) for November 12, 2024. A preview of the POTD is displayed below and can be edited at Template:POTD/2024-11-12. For the greater benefit of readers, any potential improvements or maintenance that could benefit the quality of this article should be done before its scheduled appearance on the Main Page. If you have any concerns, please place a message at Wikipedia talk:Picture of the day. Thank you!  — Amakuru (talk) 10:18, 1 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Contemporary climate change involves rising global temperatures and significant shifts in Earth's weather patterns. Climate change is driven by emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane. Emissions come mostly from burning fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas), and also from agriculture, forest loss, cement production and steel making. Climate change causes sea level rise, glacial retreat and desertification, and intensifies heat waves, wildfires and tropical cyclones. These effects of climate change endanger food security, freshwater access and global health. Climate change can be limited by using low-carbon energy sources such as wind and solar energy, by forestation, and shifts in agriculture. Adaptations such as coastline protection cannot by themselves avert the risk of severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts. Limiting global warming in line with the goals of the 2015 Paris Agreement requires reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. This animation, produced by NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio with data from the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, shows global surface temperature anomalies from 1880 to 2023 on a world map, illustrating the rise in global temperatures. Normal temperatures (calculated over the 30-year baseline period 1951–1980) are shown in white, higher-than-normal temperatures in red, and lower-than-normal temperatures in blue. The data are averaged over a running 24-month window.

Video credit: NASA; visualized by Mark SubbaRao

Suggestions for the first sentence

[edit]

The first sentence is awkward, and I'd love to craft a new first sentence before we get to be on the main page. The "in common usage" is especially jarring, and may fall slightly foul of WP:REFER. I have two suggestions:

  1. Climate change encompasses global warming—Earth’s ongoing temperature increase—and its wider effects on Earth's climate.
  2. Current climate change is the ongoing rise in global average temperatures and the resulting effects on Earth's climate.

It's a common thing that more text gets bolded than the title alone, to clarify immediately to the reader what the topic is where there is some need for disambiguation. I think this may release us from the need to be a bit pedantic in the introduction. —Femke 🐦 (talk) 19:26, 2 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The preamble "In common usage" distinguishes current CC from "Climate change in a broader sense" that's in the second sentence. The distinction is important since we should (must?) quickly define the article title, focus attention on what this article is about, and link to the other article (Climate variability and change). I remember the community grappling with how to achieve these goals; the current text was the result. "In common usage" isn't jarring, though some might call it a bit formal. "Current climate change" (suggestion 2) isn't a much-used term. —21:10 The current wording tells the reader immediately that common-use "CC" is not the academically correct use. Of Suggestion 1 and 2, though, I definitely prefer Suggestion 1. —RCraig09 (talk) 22:23, 2 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The distinction is not between "academic usage" and "common usage". Academics use the terms like everybody else in their papers. IPCC has it in their name, WMO classifies their reporting under climate change. The difference is between definitionally and non-definitionally. If you have a sentence with is, you imply a definition, so we need to make clear in some way that we're talking about "Contemporary", "Present-day", "Current" climate change. What we can do as well is 2b:
2b. Current/present-day/contemporary Climate change ...

—Femke 🐦 (talk) 09:00, 3 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I prefer 'Contemporary' to 'Current', but I like the wording in Suggestion 1 more. My suggestion would be something like:
Contemporary climate change encompasses global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate.
Also, if the first sentence changes, the next two will probably need tweaking too. Sgubaldo (talk) 12:20, 3 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I wonder what percentage of the population knows what "contemporary" means. I'd estimate less than 80/90%, hence my suggestions for slightly less elegant wording. Two difficult words close to each other (contemporary/encompasses), makes it more difficult to guess the word meaning for those unaware. —Femke 🐦 (talk) 12:23, 3 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
In that case, I would propose: "Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate." Sgubaldo (talk) 12:52, 3 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I like that variation. Present-day may prevent some knee-jerk reactions of Wikipedians trained to remove the word MOS:Current from articles. —Femke 🐦 (talk) 12:58, 3 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Pinging all those with recent talk page activity: @Clayoquot, Amakuru, Bogazicili, Chipmunkdavis, Sunrise, and Alaexis:. —Femke 🐦 (talk) 09:31, 3 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I prefer the first one because it includes the other common term, global warming. Global warming also redirects to this page, as it should. Bogazicili (talk) 14:28, 3 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I concede Femke's point (09:00) re academics/definitions. My concern is to explicitly convey that there are two definitions of CC. This distinction parallels the fact that today's CC is different from historical/generic CC. Detail: reviewing https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/contemporary, I'm OK with "current" or "present" or "present-day" or "recent" or "ongoing" or "newfangled" (well, maybe not "newfangled :-) :-). —RCraig09 (talk) 17:03, 3 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I think it's more elegant to do it implicitly (present-day climate change), rather than explicitly. We want people to read about the topic of climate change, rather than about the intricacies of how terms are used in the first paragraph. —Femke 🐦 (talk) 17:06, 3 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
By "explicitly" I didn't mean super-ultra-formally. I think the distinction of definitions is accomplished by the second sentence, "Climate change in a broader sense...". That's all I meant. I'm OK with most of the smaller-change proposal I've read in this discussion. —RCraig09 (talk) 17:11, 3 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I have a slight preference for Sgubaldo's proposal. All of them sound fine to me though. Clayoquot (talk | contribs) 17:17, 3 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Just to clarify, since there are multiple proposals. I'm ok with this latest one: "Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate." Bogazicili (talk) 17:43, 3 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
If no one objects, I'll wait until tomorrow to see if there's any more replies, and then I'll make the changes. Sgubaldo (talk) 19:12, 3 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Changes made. Sgubaldo (talk) 12:43, 4 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

FYI: removed 'mainly' from lead

[edit]

I changed "The current rise in global average temperature is mainly driven by human activities, especially fossil fuel burning since the Industrial Revolution" to "The current rise in global average temperature is mainly driven by human activities, especially fossil fuel burning since the Industrial Revolution". The best guess is taht 100% of climate change is driven by human activities (per new source), so the old wording was misleading and the old source didn't talk about this. The word driven itself also doesn't require 100% causation (that would be is caused by), so even when the percentage of human-induced climate change deviates from observed climate change, this wording should remain correct.

I did this boldly, as the old text was not really supported and misleading. Hope that's okay. —Femke 🐦 (talk) 10:20, 3 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

  • Agree. As Earth was on a very slight cooling trend for ~10,000 years, I remember reading that humans cause "more than" 100% of global warming, though it would be confusing to say that literally. —RCraig09 (talk) 17:07, 3 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    The idea of a Holocene Thermal Maximum some 8,000 years ago is a bit contested. Regional climate proxies say there was one, but globally it's a more complex picture, and models think there's been continuous warming / stable temperatures.
    The more than 100% since pre-industrial also isn't true anymore as I understand it, as the last couple of years have seen very rapid warming. The source I cited is also the one used by the IPCC, and they say the best guess is exactly 100% caused by humans with some uncertainty. —Femke 🐦 (talk) 17:17, 3 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
    @Femke: do you still want to remove "since the Industrial Revolution" part? That can be reworded and moved to the last sentence. Proposal below. Bogazicili (talk) 20:30, 3 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The lead, first paragraph

[edit]

This is what the first paragraph of the lead would look like, after recent changes and suggestions in Talk:Climate_change#Suggestions for the first sentence and Talk:Climate_change#Paper about our work & suggestions and above section.

Didn't include the sources in the article, and some of the new sources are above. For the "accelerating in the past 50 years", I will use [2].

In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to Earth's climate. Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to Earth's climate. The current Present-day rise in global average temperature is driven by human activities, especially burning fossil fuels. especially fossil fuel burning since the Industrial Revolution Fossil fuel use, deforestation, and some agricultural and industrial practices release greenhouse gases.[1] These gases absorb some of the heat that the Earth radiates after it warms from sunlight, warming the lower atmosphere. Carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas driving global warming, has grown by about 50% and is at levels unseen for millions of years. Starting roughly around 1750 and accelerating in the past 50 years, greenhouse gas concentrations have been increasing. Carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas driving global warming, is at levels unseen for millions of years

Bogazicili (talk) 19:31, 3 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I think the the new text is not great for flow. Most of the sentences are roughly the same lenght, with makes for slightly uncomfortable reading. I don't feel strongly about removing "industrial revolution", but I don't think moving it to later is that much of a change? —Femke 🐦 (talk) 21:52, 3 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I suggested the changes with this criticism in mind. Why is it so hard to arrive at a clear understanding of when climate change is happening and why do temporal constructions of this event vary so broadly
Now we have two clear dates (since 1750 and accelerating in the past 50 years). Bogazicili (talk) 22:02, 3 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@Bogazicili "accelerating in the last 50 years" suggests to me the rate of warming is increasing across that time period. i think you mean that the last 50 years has exhibited a higher rate of warming that the precedding period.
you may also like to add to that, during this 50 year period, attribution studies are able to clearly discern human driven change from natural forcing -- this relates to the time series figure on the page. DecFinney (talk) 13:14, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

References

  1. ^ Our World in Data, 18 September 2020

Proposed replacement of graphic in "Impacts" section

[edit]
A. Existing graphic: The sixth IPCC Assessment Report projects changes in average soil moisture at 2.0 °C of warming, as measured in standard deviations from the 1850 to 1900 baseline.
B. Proposed replacement: Climate change's increase of water temperatures intensified peak wind speeds in all eleven 2024 Atlantic hurricanes.
C. Second proposed replacement: Times series of Category 4 and 5 Atlantic hurricanes

I've long questioned the value of the "soil moisture" graphic in the short, crowded, under-emphasized "Impacts" section.

The existing graphic's content is not discussed in article text. Also, soil moisture's broader implication on the impacts affecting humans is speculative and indirect, perhaps even suggesting that things'll get better and better for sub-Saharan Africa. (Aside: I speak out against captions that merely repeat what's in the graphic's own legends/text.)

Meanwhile, the impacts on humans of progressively more intense hurricanes is immediately and intuitively evident (see also ). I realize Graphic B is not global and is only one year's hurricanes, but I think the graphic speaks to a more striking and immediate impact of climate change.

Please comment below, on your preference. —RCraig09 (talk) 23:19, 29 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

While I'm open to replacing that graph, I'm not a fan of adding another US-focused one in its place. Is it possible to do something similar for tropical cyclones in general? —Femke 🐦 (talk) 08:21, 30 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
It's Atlantic focused, not "US" focused per se. I've searched for CC-intensified (Pacific) typhoons but references applying extreme event attribution to specific hurricanes/cyclones/typhoons are nearly non-existent. This chart was a rare discovery in how it makes CC's effects be concretely evident. If anyone finds similar references for the Pacific, let me know.. —RCraig09 (talk) 17:51, 30 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
The soil moisture graph was added by User:Efbrazil three years ago. I think we could probably remove it (or move it?) but I am a bit concerned that we don't mention "soil moisture" content anywhere in the text (or is it mentioned under a different term?). I was going to suggest to move it to effects of climate change but I see it's already there. - I think my suggestion would be to remove it but to not replace it with another fairly complicated, wordy schematic (such as graph B.). Either remove it without replacement or replace it with something very visual (a photo?). In general, we do have a lot of graphs, schematics and images already in this article. Perhaps one less is actually a good thing. EMsmile (talk) 13:22, 30 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Droughts are mentioned. Bogazicili (talk) 21:29, 1 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I'd rather have this image chosen for the replacement than the other file. I do not believe using an image for one season restricted in one basin would reflect climate change's general impact on tropical cyclones. I'm a bit cautious on replacing the existing image, but I want to see more people discussing before I issue my final verdict. ZZZ'S 18:21, 30 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

IPCC's AR6 Fig. TS-22 etc.

[edit]
@RCraig09 have you considered these figures?
https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/figures/technical-summary/figure-ts-22 DecFinney (talk) 13:21, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@DecFinney: I think that Fig. TS-22 is far too complex and detailed for a layperson encyclopedia, especially in a high-level article such as this. —RCraig09 (talk) 15:10, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I wasnt imagining the whole thing. e.g. perhaps just the top right quarter. That seems like a really neat summary in lay terms of the kind of impacts different regions of the world could expect. It doesnt rely on the rest of the figure for understanding so I would assume its fine to crop it to make a new figure (but I am new-ish to wiki so am not sure of cropping policy).
Such a figure seems much more relevant to any person in the world. Meanwhile figures based on the atlantic seem more like a token representation of impact (i.e. just one example) as well as introducing a regional bias and thereby limiting the interest for the wider global population. I appreciate you will not being trying to illustrate all impacts. Nevertheless, the figure I propose does do a pretty job of covering bases in the a concise manner. DecFinney (talk) 15:29, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@DecFinney: I appreciate that Fig. TS-22(b) has a lot of information, a huge amount in fact: five values for each of 35 categories. Especially for a high-level article such as this, this micro-categorization would be overwhelming for lay readers. FYI: Generally there is no general prohibition on cropping as such (every edit involves selection of material from a larger-content publication), but I seem to recall that some organization, not sure if it's the IPCC, licensed things only if presented in their entirety. I wish I had a hurricane-intensification reference for both Atlantic and Pacific, but since the main point of Graphic "B" is climate change's intensification of hurricanes rather than hurricanes themselves, I think "B" is more than adequate for purpose. —RCraig09 (talk) 18:57, 16 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@RCraig09 ok. the only multi-basin figure i can find that seems relevant to your aim is fig5 in https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/101/3/bams-d-18-0194.1.xml
this shows the consistent projection of increased TC intensity (and rain rate) in every basin. DecFinney (talk) 07:34, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@DecFinney: Thanks for the research. I like the global extent of the AMS datasets but the error ranges are, like, totally_outtasight_dude! I'll have to consider the various drawings in the AMS reference... I lean toward something like Figs. 3b and 4b more than the global map. A major advantage of is that it's not a long-term prediction (it's about climate change attribution), and concrete values are provided in the context of peak winds and hurricane categories. —RCraig09 (talk) 21:28, 17 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
@RCraig09 i agree 3b and 4b are better multi-basin figs to consider.
there is a part 1 to that paper which is about attribution. when i glanced at it, i didnt spot any suitable figures. https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/100/10/bams-d-18-0189.1.xml
attribution with TCs is still pretty statistically limited. i have to admit that fig1f probably justifies a focus on NAtlantic if you want to stick to an attribution based figure.
thats my last input. thanks for the discussion. im happy with whatever you decide. DecFinney (talk) 09:08, 18 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Many thanks. I haven't been able to conjure a graphical approach to represent multi-basin attribution/changes that's more elegant than separate bar charts with distracting and divergent error bars scattered around a world map. I think that already captures predicted impacts quite well, and that an example of Extreme event attribution (Graphic "B", above) deserves space in this article. —RCraig09 (talk) 17:36, 18 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Underemphasis on extreme event attribution

[edit]
Caption: The ability to determine the influence of global warming on a specific extreme event (vertical axis) depends on the level of scientific knowledge about how global warming affects that type of event. More generally, this knowledge depends on the thoroughness of the records for each type of event, and on the quality of scientific models for simulating respective types of events.

The preceding discussion brings out the point that Extreme event attribution is not even mentioned in this article. I think it's very important because, more and more, the intensification of specific current events are being presented to the public as being caused by global warming. This attribution is distinct from projections of future intensification such as that shown in . Though attribution science is not yet fully developed, and is statistical in nature, I think that something should be added to the "Impacts" section. Agreement? Suggestions? —RCraig09 (talk) 17:20, 23 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Mentioning SRM under "Reducing and recapturing emissions"

[edit]

Hello! I am new to this talk page. I have been working on the SRM article and noticed that SRM is mentioned in the Climate Change article. I have some questions about how SRM is mentioned in this article.

Should SRM really be mentioned under the heading "Reducing and recapturing emissions"?

Given that SRM would only ‘mask’ climate change instead of addressing the cause, greenhouse gas emissions. "SRM contrasts with climate change mitigation activities, such as emission reductions and carbon dioxide removal (CDR), as it introduces a ‘mask’ to the climate change problem by altering the Earth’s radiation budget, rather than attempting to address the root cause of the problem, which is the increase in greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere" (IPCC_AR6_WGII_CCB-CWGB, p. 77).

I suggest either deleting the two sentences on SRM altogether or clearly explaining to the readers that SRM is somewhat related but is not a mitigation option in the pure sense. 1HumbleB (talk) 12:00, 6 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with 1HumbleB's concerns (disclosure: we have worked together on the solar radiation modification article; that's how I got interested in this). For comparison, in the article climate change mitigation we have quite a good description of what SRM has to do with mitigation (or doesn't have to do with it). I have just moved that section further down in the article; it was under "definition" there until now which I don't think was ideal. It reads like this at the climate change mitigation article:
== Related approaches ==
=== Relationship with solar radiation modification (SRM) ===
While solar radiation modification (SRM) could reduce surface temperatures, it temporarily masks climate change rather than addressing the root cause, which is greenhouse gases.[1]: 14–56  SRM would work by altering how much solar radiation the Earth absorbs.[1]: 14–56  Examples include reducing the amount of sunlight reaching the surface, reducing the optical thickness and lifetime of clouds, and changing the ability of the surface to reflect radiation.[2] The IPCC describes SRM as a climate risk reduction strategy or supplementary option rather than a climate mitigation option.[1]
The terminology in this area is still evolving. Experts sometimes use the term geoengineering or climate engineering in the scientific literature for both CDR or SRM, if the techniques are used at a global scale.[3]: 6–11  IPCC reports no longer use the terms geoengineering or climate engineering.[4] EMsmile (talk) 10:15, 7 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
To simplify things: I'd like to propose to delete these two sentences (for the reasons given above): Solar radiation modification (SRM) is also a possible supplement to deep reductions in emissions. However, SRM raises significant ethical and legal concerns, and the risks are imperfectly understood.[5]. Especially the first out of these two sentences is problematic in my opinion. The phrasing reads as if there is a relationship between SRM and deep emission reductions; and it lacks nuance. Also, the topic of SRM opens a can of worms and would require more space than what can be given in this high level article. Therefore, I think it's better not to mention it here at all. Readers can easily find it in the climate change mitigation article instead. EMsmile (talk) 21:42, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
So I went ahead and deleted the two sentences in question (as there was no disagreement voiced on the talk page). Subsequently, User:RCraig09 re-instated the two sentences with the edit summary comment: "The content was in the section, Reducing and recapturing emissions: and there was no implication that SRM is mitigation. You can distinguish mitigation from SRM if you think it's important."
My response: this section is all about climate change mitigation. Directly under the section heading it says "Main: Climate change mitigation". Therefore, why do we talk about SRM in this section, which is not about climate change mitigation? It is also not about "reducing and recapturing emissions". Rather, it's about masking the warming effects, i.e. actively attempting to achieve global cooling.
So I still think that those two sentences have no place here. If others say SRM must be mentioned in this section (why?), then the two sentences ought to be changed (as per my earlier comments) and it should be made clear that SRM is neither about mitigation nor about "reducing and recapturing emissions". Otherwise we'll just create confusion. EMsmile (talk) 13:03, 18 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
I agree with @EMsmile's points. The fact that the content was previously included under this heading and that there is NO implication that SRM is mitigation, IMO does not justify keeping it here. SRM is unrelated to climate change mitigation. It should not be listed under this heading because its inclusion implies a connection to reducing or recapturing emissions, which is not accurate. Even if we revise the sentences to clarify that SRM is neither mitigation nor about "reducing and recapturing emissions," it would still be misplaced under this heading.
I suggest we delete the sentences all together. 1HumbleB (talk) 11:58, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Through its reduction of permafrost melt and other positive-feedback global warming processes, SRM has the indirect effect of "Reducing ...emissions" that is a section title. SRM thus helps impede the climate change that is the subject of this article. SRM therefore has a place in this article, and I'm certainly not opposed to editors pointing out the distinction between SRM and more direct mitigation techniques. —RCraig09 (talk) 17:07, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
SRM does not "reduce emissions", so I don't know what you mean with "indirect effect of reducing emissions". For comparison, in the climate change mitigation article, SRM is mentioned at the end under "related approaches". I don't know if SRM is all that important that it needs to be included in this high level article (?). People can easily find it through the sub-articles. But if several editors think it ought to be mentioned then I would either mention it elsewhere in the article, or change the section heading or make it very explicit that SRM is not climate change mitigation and does not reduce emissions. - Does anyone else have an opinion about this? EMsmile (talk) 22:07, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
For now, I've changed the wording of the two sentences to this (the bolding is used to show the changes): Solar radiation modification (SRM) is under discussion as a possible supplement to reductions in emissions. However, SRM raises significant ethical and global governance concerns, and its risks are not well understood. The old version was Solar radiation modification (SRM) is also a possible supplement to deep reductions in emissions. However, SRM raises significant ethical and legal concerns, and the risks are imperfectly understood.. (I am not sure if the wording "supplement" is sufficiently clear, and not overly optimistic.) EMsmile (talk) 22:17, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]
At 17:07 I explained how SRM would inhibit permafrost melt—it would thus inhibit release of methane that was previously embedded in the permafrost. That is the indirect effect of SRM. Yes, it is a widely reported "related approach" that should be mentioned here. Re wording: closely follow source descriptions. —RCraig09 (talk) 22:32, 19 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

References

  1. ^ a b c IPCC (2022) Chapter 14: International cooperation in Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, United States]
  2. ^ National Academies of Sciences, Engineering (25 March 2021). Reflecting Sunlight: Recommendations for Solar Geoengineering Research and Research Governance. doi:10.17226/25762. ISBN 978-0-309-67605-2. S2CID 234327299.
  3. ^ IPCC (2022) Chapter 1: Introduction and Framing in Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change. Contribution of Working Group III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, United States
  4. ^ IPCC, 2021: Annex VII: Glossary [Matthews, J.B.R., V. Möller, R. van Diemen, J.S. Fuglestvedt, V. Masson-Delmotte, C.  Méndez, S. Semenov, A. Reisinger (eds.)]. In Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Masson-Delmotte, V., P. Zhai, A. Pirani, S.L. Connors, C. Péan, S. Berger, N. Caud, Y. Chen, L. Goldfarb, M.I. Gomis, M. Huang, K. Leitzell, E. Lonnoy, J.B.R. Matthews, T.K. Maycock, T. Waterfield, O. Yelekçi, R. Yu, and B. Zhou (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, pp. 2215–2256, doi:10.1017/9781009157896.022.
  5. ^ IPCC SR15 Ch4 2018, pp. 347–352

Copernicus: 2024 above +1.5°C

[edit]

https://climate.copernicus.eu/2024-track-be-first-year-exceed-15oc-above-pre-industrial-average

Yes, I know

  • WP:NOTCRYSTAL.
  • We'll have to wait another 10 years for the 20 year average.

Still Climate_change#Warming_since_the_Industrial_Revolution could mention 2024 as the first year above +1.5 C. Uwappa (talk) 12:38, 10 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]