IPCC AR5 Observed Climate Change Impacts

Tables

Tables 18-5 to 18-9 from the Working Group II report provide summary information on observed impacts in the following domains, over the past several decades, across major world regions, with descriptors for:

1. the confidence in detection of a climate change impact;
2. the relative contribution of climate change to the observed change, compared to that of non-climatic drivers;
3. the main climatic driver(s) causing the impacts;
4. the reference behavior of the system in the absence of climate change; and
5. the confidence in attribution of the impacts to climate change. References to related chapters in this report are given as well as key references to other IPCC reports and the scientific literature.

It is worth noting that the absence of climate change impacts from these table does not imply that such impacts have not occurred.

Observed impacts domains:

• Mountains, snow, and ice (Table 18-5)
• Rivers, lakes, and soil moisture (Table 18-6)
• Terrestrial ecosystems (Table 18-7)
• Coastal and marine ecosystems (Table 18-8)
• Human and managed systems (Table 18-9)
• All domains (All tables)