Climate Outlook Worse Than Expected: AAAS 2009 Meeting

Feb. 16 update:
More coverage from:

• BBC, Global warming 'underestimated'
  
• AFP, Climate change: 'Feedback' triggers could amplify peril
  
• UK Guardian, The tropics on fire: scientist's grim vision of global warming
  

Meanwhile, the ad hominem hack attacks have already begun.

Original post:
Recent climate change reports have actually underestimated the problem, according to a briefing Saturday at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting in Chicago. Christopher Field, a Stanford researcher, reported that greenhouse gas emissions from 2000 to 2007 have been underestimated. Field also noted the effect of positive feedback loops:

There is a real risk that human-caused climate change will accelerate the release of carbon dioxide from forest and tundra ecosystems, which have been storing a lot of carbon for thousands of years.

From the press:

• WaPo (A3 in the carbon-based edition), Scientists: Pace of Climate Change Exceeds Estimates
  
• Reuters, Global warming seen worse than predicted
  
• UK Telegraph, AAAS: Global warming will be worse than expected, scientist warns