Tropics will be the first region to be hit hard by global warming - latimes.com
The shifts to consistently warmer temperatures in the worlds climates pose a considerable threat to thousands of plant and animal species. They would either have to move, adapt or face extinction.
Most aspects of human society would face grave disruptions as well, from agriculture to water security to public health.
Regardless of the scenario, changes will be coming soon, said Camilo Mora, an assistant professor of geography at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, and the studys lead author. Within my generation, whatever climate we were used to will be a thing of the past.
Even if nations took a more aggressive approach to reducing greenhouse gases, the annual mean temperature in an average location in the world would still shift out of its previous normal range by 2069, Mora and his colleagues found.
"We set the bounds of the past minimum and maximum values, and the shift is when the annual mean temperature moves beyond these bounds and never comes back in, said study coauthor Ryan Longman, also a graduate student in geography at the University of Hawaii, Manoa. The new minimum temperature of the future is the old maximum temperature of the past.