Fourth Assessment Report

This chapter summarizes climate projections presented by the recent Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the IPCC, both for the global scale and for the so-called European and Mediterranean region. Besides the IPCC projections, other results regarding the Mediterranean area will be reviewed as well. The emphasis will be mostly placed on temperature and precipitation projections, while other variables, such as wind, solar radiation, or sea level, will not be commented in depth. Some attention will be paid to methodologies used to develop projections, and the corresponding uncertainties will be commented. In general, projections will be given for the end of the current century. 

IPCC (2007) Climate change 2007 impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Working Group II. Fourth Assessment Report, UNEP... 

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Fourth Assessment Report Climate Change [Internet]. 2007. Available from www. ipcc. ch/publicationsanddata/ publicationsanddatareports. shtml l [Accessed 2012-02]. 

The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge Cambridge University Press 2007. pp. 498-540. 

The warming climate is likely to induce changes in the hydrological cycle that will lead to further climate change. Increased heating should increase the rate of evaporation and, hence, the amount of water vapor, which is a GHG. The IPCC s Fourth Assessment Report, published in 2007, finds that the average atmospheric water vapor content has increased since at least the 1980s over land and ocean as well as in the upper troposphere. ... 

Solomon, S., Qin, D., Manning, M., Marquis, M., Averyt, K., Tignor, M.M.B., LeRoy Miller Jr, H., and Chen, Z. (2007) Climate Change 2007 The Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 

---