M. Robinson, H.J. Dowsett & M.A. Chandler. Pliocene role in assessing future climate impacts, Eos Trans. Amer. Geophys. U., 89 (2008) 501-502

M. Robinson, H.J. Dowsett, and M.A. Chandler (2008), Pliocene role in assessing future climate impacts, Eos Trans. Amer. Geophys. U., 89, 501-502.

Future warming projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has the potential to affect each of us. Extreme weather events, rising sea level, and migrating ecosystems and resources may result in socioeconomic stresses. Although we can plan and prepare for what is expected, the most dangerous aspect of our changing climate is the uncertainty in climate sensitivity.

To reduce the uncertainties of climate change, paleoclimatologists are focusing on a possible yet imperfect analog to a future warmer climate. The middle part of the Pliocene epoch, approximately 3.3-3.0 million years ago, is the most recent period in Earth's history in which global warmth reached temperatures similar to those projected for the end of this century, about 2-3 °C warmer globally on average than today.

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Link to abstract: http://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/abstracts/2008/Robinson_etal.html