TEN years ago, climate scientists from 60 countries met in Paris, France, and set themselves the task of predicting the world’s weather years into the future. They dreamed of being able to issue reliable forecasts for an hour, a day, a month, a year, a decade or a century ahead – all with equal confidence. Now at least part of that dream looks to be on the verge of being fulfilled: viable medium-term forecasts seem within our grasp (see “Climate change: The next ten years”).
This optimism stems from the better understanding we now have of the role of the…
