UALR Climatologist Agrees with Paris Report

UALR Earth Science Professor Michael Ledbetter said the most recent announcement by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that increased the degree of certainty that global warming is happening now and is mostly human-caused, ratified findings made five years ago when he was a U.S. reviewer of the scientific report adopted by the international commission.

“As a member of the U.S. delegation that participated in the 2001 IPCC, I have been very interested in the conclusions of the 2007 review of impacts from continued global warming,” Ledbetter said. “It is heartening to know that scientific findings made five years ago still hold true but discouraging to think about their meaning for our future. The changes introduced by increased CO2 in the atmosphere will be with us for 30 years even if we do nothing to stop the accelerating increase.”

Before coming to UALR in 2002, Ledbetter was director of a National Science Foundation program studying interrelationships between the Arctic region and global climate change.

Ledbetter directed the Arctic System Science Program to study changes in Arctic regions that scientists believe may be affecting the world’s climate patterns and producing changes in extreme weather conditions such as hurricanes and El Niño. The interdisciplinary program focused on understanding global and regional impacts of the Arctic climate system, including factors that are driving global warming.

The latest climate report issued in Paris is the first of four reports to be released this year.