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The early 1980s would mark a sharp increase in global temperatures.
The early 1980s would mark a sharp increase in
global temperatures. Many experts point to 1988
as a critical turning point when watershed
events placed global warming in the
spotlight.The summer of 1988 was the hottest
on record (although many since then have been
hotter). 1988 also saw widespread drought and
wildfires within the United States.
Scientists sounding the alarm about climate change began to see media and the public paying closer attention. NASA scientist James Hansen delivered testimony and presented models to congress in June of 1988, saying he was “99 percent sure” that global warming was upon us.
One year later, in 1989,
the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) was
established.
Under the United Nations to provide a scientific view of climate change and its political and economic impacts.
As global warming gained currency as a
real phenomenon, researchers dug into
possible ramifications of a warming climate
The worst flood in Sudan took place in August 1988. Among other predictions of global warming were warnings of severe heat waves, droughts and more powerful hurricanes fueled by rising sea surface temperatures.Other studies predicted that as massive glaciers at the poles melt, sea levels could rise between 11 and 38 inches (28 to 98 centimeters) by 2100, enough to swamp many of the cities along the east coast of the United States.
