Friday 23 October 2009

Climate map shows world after 4C rise

Details from a map showing the impact of a global temperature rise of 4C. Photograph: Met Office

22 October. London. A map launched at the Science Museum in London linked to the Science Museum's new climate change exhibit has been developed using the latest peer-reviewed science from the Met Office Hadley Centre and other leading impact scientists. It shows that the land will heat up more quickly than the sea, and high latitudes, particularly the Arctic, will have larger temperature increases.

The map, produced by the Met Office Hadley Centre, is based on temperatures between 2060 and 2100 if current rates of climate change are not slowed. It shows that the rise will not evenly be spread across the globe, with temperature rises much larger than 4C in high latitudes such as the Arctic. Because the sea warms more slowly, average land temperature will increase by 5.5C, which scientists said would shrink agricultural yields for all major cereal crops on all major regions of production.

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Watch the video of the launch