Warming may create climates, cut others

WASHINGTON – Some climates may disappear from Earth entirely, not just from their current locations, while new climates could develop if the planet continues to warm, a study says. Such changes would endanger some plants and animals while providing new opportunities for others, said John W. Williams, an assistant professor of geography at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

Using global change forecasts prepared for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, researchers led by Williams used computer models to estimate how climates in various parts of the world would be affected. Their findings are being published in this week’s online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The IPCC, representing the world’s leading climate scientists, reported in February that “warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observation of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice and rising global average sea level.”

Tropical regions in particular may face unexpected changes, particularly the rain forests in the Amazon and Indonesia, Williams’ researchers concluded.

This was surprising, Williams said in a telephone interview, since the tropics tend to have little variation in weather.

AP