Temperatures worldwide are rising faster than expected and climate change is accelerating at rates not seen in a millennium, warn climate scientists.
New evidence suggests the rate at which temperatures are rising in the northern hemisphere could be 0.25°C per decade by 2020 -- a level not seen for at least 1,000 years. As a result, the world must prepare itself for a rapid increase in the speed of climate change. The rapid onset of global warming will alter the way people live, even in the short-term.
The analysis by researchers from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington looked at the rate of change in 40-year long time spans. It was based on a combination of data from more than two dozen climate simulation models from around the world.
Using calculations from this vast database, researchers predict global temperatures will rise at an average of 0.45 degrees Fahrenheit every 10 years in the coming decades.
Even if the lowest likely carbon rates were used, climate models still reveal rising global temperatures in the future. Higher estimates from the climate models naturally result in greater carbon levels as opposed to lower levels.
Models predict that nearly every region in the world will experience rising temperatures beyond natural fluctuations that will accelerate over time.
"In the near term, we're going to have to adapt to these changes," said lead scientist Dr. Steve Smith to The Daily Mail.
He noted that in these climate model simulations, the world is just now starting to enter into a new place where rates of temperature change are consistently larger than historical values over 40-year time spans.
"We need to better understand what the effects of this will be and how to prepare for them".
The world is getting warmer due to increasing greenhouse gas emissions that trap the sun's heat.
Computer simulation models showed the effects of carbon on the environment but short term weather patterns and variations make it more difficult to predict global warming trends.