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A post-Paris look at climate observations

Nature Geoscience volume 9, page 646 (2016)Cite this article

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To the Editor

The Paris Agreement1 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in December 2015 was a landmark event. Stakeholders such as cities, companies and citizens that endure the impacts of a changing climate, as well as policymakers, now need to know what impact their future choices will have on the environment. Systematic observations of the climate system and of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are needed to track progress and identify where additional goals may be needed. We suggest that, although the targets agreed in Paris — to hold global warming to well below 2 °C and avert loss and damage — are formulated around temperature, monitoring and meeting these targets requires a broader range of climate indicators2. Global mean surface temperature alone has proved problematic for communicating the impacts and evolution of climate change. The warming of the oceans, sea-level rise, increasing ocean acidity, melting glaciers and decreasing snow cover, and changes in Arctic sea ice also need to be taken into account.

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References

  1. Adoption of the Paris Agreement FCCC/CP/2015/10/Add.1 (UNFCCC, 2015).

  2. Briggs, S., Kennel, C. F. & Victor, D. G. Nat. Clim. Change 5, 969–970 (2015).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, Free University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, 1081, HV, the Netherlands

    A. Johannes Dolman

  2. European Commission, DG Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, H05 Land Resource Management, Via Fermi, Ispra, 21027, Italy

    Alan Belward & Mark Dowell

  3. Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), World Meteorological Organization (WMO), 7 bis, Avenue de la Paix, Geneva 2, CH-1211, Switzerland

    Stephen Briggs, Simon Eggleston, Katherine Hill & Carolin Richter

  4. European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Reading, RG2 9AX, UK

    Adrian Simmons

Authors
  1. A. Johannes Dolman
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  2. Alan Belward
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  3. Stephen Briggs
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  4. Mark Dowell
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  5. Simon Eggleston
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  6. Katherine Hill
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  7. Carolin Richter
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  8. Adrian Simmons
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. Johannes Dolman.

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Dolman, A., Belward, A., Briggs, S. et al. A post-Paris look at climate observations. Nature Geosci 9, 646 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2785

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