Science of Climate Change

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE SCIENCE OF CLIMATE CHANGE

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Canadians frequently ask questions that indicate considerable public confusion about many aspects of climate change science and related research. This confusion is compounded by contrarian arguments raised by skeptics that, for the most part, have not stood the tests of peer review and time but are still often put forward by media and others as ‘sound science'.  This document addresses some of these questions and arguments by providing both a simple response and a more detailed background explanation for each.  Responses are based on fundamental, well-accepted principles of physics, on related information contained in the various IPCC reports published between 1990 and 2001, and in recent peer-reviewed scientific papers. References are provided for diagrams and for responses where specific values are introduced.

Table of Contents

1. General Overview: What is Climate Change?
2. Human Influences on the Atmosphere
3. Detecting and Attributing Climate Change
4. Predicting Climate
5. Global Impacts of Climate Change
6. Global Impacts of Climate Change
7. Scientific credibility and human response - general
8. References

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