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Abstract
The implication for climate and sea level of the steadily increasing content of carbon dioxide and other ‘greenhouse’ gases in the atmosphere has been a focus of public and scientific discussion since the late 1980s. Predicted changes over the next few decades have ranged from minor to catastrophic. Latest estimates based on mathematical models of the atmosphere have tended towards less extreme changes than previously suggested. Nevertheless, the predicted changes are still substantial and have profound implications for economics, conservation and the survival of low-lying areas.
The role of the oceans in the mathematical models is crucial. The following article outlines some of the issues. involved and how they are being tackled. It is based on an article by Roger Beckmann in the CSIRO journal ECOS and a news release from the Plymouth Marine Laboratories in the UK.