2012 State of the Climate Report - American Meteorological Society (AMS)

2012 State of the Climate

A report released by the American Meteorological Society (AMS), which was compiled by 384 scientists from 52 countries and peer-reviewed with scientists from NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, NC, serving as lead editors... Read more



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