Strategic Planning Document -
Environment and Natural Resources
Research Successes
Assessment Unifies International Community
Research over the past 10 years,
confirming changes in the composition of
the atmosphere from greenhouse gases,
provided the basis for the international
adoption of the 1992 Framework
Convention on Climate Change. Surface
station measurements, air trapped in the
bubbles in glacial ice, and other records all
indicate that human activities since the
beginning of the Industrial Revolution are
changing the composition of the atmosphere
faster and in ways that have not taken place
for many millions of years.
In the past, changes in the composition
of the atmosphere have been a major cause
of climate differences. Already,
observations of the global climate indicate
that average temperatures are starting to
warm, most likely because of increasing
concentrations of greenhouse gases
(especially carbon dioxide) in spite of the
apparent cooling influence of the increased
concentration of sulfate aerosols, primarily
from sulfur dioxide emissions.
The US Global Change Research
Program supported a major portion of
climate change research, the results of which
have been endorsed by the international
scientific community and summarized in
scientific assessments by the IPCC.
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