2012 State of the Climate
Notes from the EDITOR
by Pablo Gonzalez
Undoubtedly, the State
of the Climate in 2012 report provides valuable information and
analysis to help decision- and policy-makers understand changes in the
so-called essential climate variables (ECVs) –as defined originally by the
Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) program in 2003 and updated in 2010, the
impact of these changes and their drivers and/or contributors. Yet, one must
understand its limitations given by the data and the actual complexity of
Climate itself. For instance, as the authors explain in the introduction of
this report, less than half of the ECVs are “fully monitored”. In other words,
less than half of the ECVs are observed and analyzed across much of the world,
and with sufficiently long-term data collections to make long-term projections.
The remaining variables are “partially monitored” or not even included in the
analysis... Read more