Climate change: Does a small temperature rise actually matter?


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A Russian man watches a forest fire burn in Beloomut
A Russian man watches a forest fire burn in Beloomut, in summer 2010. Experts have linked the likelihood of such fires with global warming. Photograph: Andrey Smirnov/AFP/Getty Images

So far, global warming has been limited to a rise of around 0.75C since the end of the 19th century. This sounds like a small change, but the scientific evidence suggests it is already leading to a range of impacts around the world. As we'll explore in future questions, these impacts includes changes to sea level, rainfall patterns, ecosystems and some kinds of extreme weather.

It's worth noting that the temperature rise observed to date isn't spread evenly around the planet. As can be seen clearly in maps of temperature change (such as those created by Nasa), the increase has been particularly steep in the Arctic, where the climate system is more sensitive to warming than most of the rest of the world, partly due to feedback loops in the local climate that amplify the warming.

More importantly, however, is that the temperature rise observed so far is not the chief cause of concern. More worrying is the significantly larger temperature rise (and associated changes in rainfall, snowfall, sea level and other phenomena) that scientists expect the world to experience in the coming decades and centuries.

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This answer last updated: 21.01.2010
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