History of Climate Science Ideas and their Applications

Climate change has recently risen even higher up the agenda with concerns about a Climate Emergency linked to a recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on the need to keep global warming to 1.5°C above late nineteenth century levels. The meeting is accordingly designed for a general audience as well as specialist attendees. It will review the development of key ideas about natural and anthropogenic climate change, as well as major modes of climate variability, from the Ice Ages to the possible future climate.

A key purpose of the meeting was to bring these ideas together to review how climate science has contributed in recent decades to interactions between science and policy in the UK as concerns have steadily grown about anthropogenic climate change. This involves the interface between the accelerating developments in scientific understanding and policies for the mitigation of climate change and adaptation to it. Here the Met Office Hadley Centre, interacting widely with other scientists and policy makers, has played a pivotal role. The meeting ended with a Discussion Panel consisting of leading experts who will review where we are and where we are going, partly through questions from the floor.

Meeting Organiser: Chris Folland FRMetS
Rapporter: Prof Phil Jones FRMetS