In the NewsClimatewireNovember 8, 2017

Researchers say uncertainties exist. Effects might be worse

The latest National Climate Assessment warns about potential climate "surprises." Scientists who wrote the report, released last week, say some of the greatest concerns about the future effects of climate change center on the possibility for serious, even catastrophic, events that researchers are only just beginning to understand. Current climate models are still improving, so they don't necessarily account for all the planetary processes that may affect future changes — and there are some components of the climate system that scientists don't actually know enough about yet to include. Robert Kopp, a climate scientist at Rutgers University, Lab co-director, and one of the report's authors, weighs in on the importance of accounting for uncertainty "to think about climate change as a risk management problem."