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In the News: Climate Study Results in Bold Headlines, Claims  

August 23, 2007

In the last few days a series of news reports have suggested that the findings of a new climate study by atmospheric scientist Stephen Schwartz of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory “overturn” the consensus on global warming. One report on Fox News introduced the study by saying, “. . . skeptics are increasingly certain that the [global warming] scare is vastly overblown.”  

Schwartz maintains that his study is not an attempt to debunk global warming or overturn a scientific consensus, but, rather, a new “independent, estimate of Earth’s climate sensitivity based on observational data.” His study used observations of Earth’s temperature and the oceans’ heat content to determine the planet’s sensitivity to increasing levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), which results from fossil fuel combustion.  

The finding resulting in the controversial claims was that Earth would be only about one-third as sensitive to a doubling of CO2 as predicted by the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Schwartz estimates a rise in Earth’s global mean surface temperature of 1.1 degrees Celsius vs. the IPCC’s estimate of 2 to 4.5 degrees Celsius for a doubling of CO2.  

Says Schwartz, “If this estimate is correct, it means that the climate is less sensitive to CO2 than currently thought, which gives some breathing room. But a lower sensitivity does not solve the long-term problem that would result from continued build up of CO2.”  

In other words, even if the planet is warming up more slowly than expected, Schwartz contends that global warming is still a problem that the nations of the world need to address.

Last Modified: January 31, 2008

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE’s Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

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