cc: "Jones Philip Prof \(ENV\)" , "Karpechko Alexey Dr \(ENV\)" date: Mon, 27 Oct 2008 11:53:31 -0000 from: "Dunford Simon Mr \(MAC\)" subject: RE: Conclusive proof that polar warming is being caused by humans to: "Alister Doyle" Hi Alister Copying in Phil and Alexey to see who's best placed to speak to you.... And attaching the paper (and supplementary info) in the meantime (both under same embargo.) Cheers, Simon Simon Dunford, Press Officer, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ. Tel:+44 (0)1603 592203 www.uea.ac.uk/comm ______________________________________________________________________________________ From: Alister Doyle [mailto:Alister.Doyle@thomsonreuters.com] Sent: Monday, October 27, 2008 11:46 AM To: Dunford Simon Mr (MAC) Subject: RE: Conclusive proof that polar warming is being caused by humans Dear Simon, looks interesting, yes please it would be very good to have a chat with one of the researchers this week -- maybe tomorrow or wednesday? cheers Alister Alister Doyle Environment Correspondent Reuters News Thomson Reuters O +47 22 93 69 61 M +47 900 87 663 [1]alister.doyle@thomsonreuters.com thomsonreuters.com ______________________________________________________________________________________ From: s.dunford@uea.ac.uk [mailto:s.dunford@uea.ac.uk] Sent: 27. oktober 2008 10:56 To: alister.doyle@reuters.com Subject: Conclusive proof that polar warming is being caused by humans Dear Alister Details below about a UEA-led Nature paper which demonstrates for the first time that humans are responsible for warming of both polar regions. Major blow for climate sceptics presumably... Let me know if you'd like to interview one of the authors or if you'd like the full paper. Please note the embargo. Cheers, Simon Simon Dunford Press Officer University of East Anglia [2]s.dunford@uea.ac.uk +44 (0)1603 592203 Embargoed to 18:00 GMT (14:00 US Eastern Time) on Thursday October 30 2008 Conclusive proof that polar warming is being caused by humans New research by the University of East Anglia (UEA) has demonstrated for the first time that human activity is responsible for significant warming in both polar regions. The findings by a team of scientists led by UEA's Climatic Research Unit will be published online by the Nature Geoscience this week. Previous studies have observed rises in both Arctic and Antarctic temperatures over recent decades but have not formally attributed the changes to human influence due to poor observation data and large natural variability. Moreover, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had concluded that Antarctica was the only continent where human-induced temperature changes had yet to be detected. Now, a newly updated data-set of land surface temperatures and simulations from four new climate models show that temperature rises in both polar regions are not consistent with natural climate variability alone and are directly attributable to human influence. The results demonstrate that human activity has already caused significant warming, with impacts on polar biology, indigenous communities, ice-sheet mass balance and global sea level. "This is an important work indeed," said Dr Alexey Karpechko of UEA's Climatic Research Unit. "Arctic warming has previously been emphasized in several publications, although not formally attributed to human activity. However in Antarctica, such detection was so far precluded by insufficient data available. Moreover circulation changes caused by stratospheric ozone depletion opposed warming over most of Antarctica and made the detection even more difficult. "Since the ozone layer is expected to recover in the future we may expect amplifying Antarctic warming in the coming years." `Attribution of polar warming to human influence' by Nathan Gillett (UEA/Environment Canada), Phil Jones (UEA), Alexey Karpechko (UEA), Daithi Stone (University of Oxford/Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research), Peter Scott (Met Office Hadley Centre), Toru Nozawa (National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan), Gabriele Hegerl (University of Edinburgh), and Michael Wehner (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, California) is published by Nature Geoscience on Thursday October 30 at 6pm, UK time. Ends Notes to Editors 1. A copy of the full paper is available on request as a PDF. 2. Dr Alexey Karpechko and Prof Phil Jones of UEA's Climatic Research Unit are available for interview. 3. For further information, to arrange interviews or request the PDF, please contact Simon Dunford at the UEA Press Office on 01603 592203/[3]s.dunford@uea.ac.uk. This email was sent to you by Thomson Reuters, the global news and information company. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, except where the sender specifically states them to be the views of Thomson Reuters. Attachment Converted: "c:\eudora\attach\ngeo3382.pdf" Attachment Converted: "c:\eudora\attach\gillett_SI2.pdf"