Question: have you made any descoveries that nobody has ever made before? if you have can you tell me? thank you.

James Pope answered on 2 Jul 2012:

Hi lesperges,

Anyone working on or having completed a PhD must have made a new discovery as it’s a requirement for doing a PhD. I published a scientific paper last August where I showed my inital results. These results where the first time someone had done to a climate model what I do to it (changing settings in how it makes clouds and other weather features) in a past warmer climate.

I hope to make further discoveries about a feature of climate called climate sensitivity, which is how much temperature change you get if you double carbon dioxode. We presently think this is about 3°C, but my work suggests that it may be higher. We’ll have to wait and see till I finish my work to be sure though! This could have a big impact on how we prepare for climate change as higher climate sensitivity means we get more change for every bit of greenhouse gas we emit, so we’d have to emit even less than we presently think we have to!