Climate Change Index

The International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme launched a Climate Change Index at the IPCC conference in Copenhagen. This index combines four factors they consider indicative of global climate change: atmospheric CO2 levels, global average temperature, sea level, and arctic sea ice extent.

The three dips in the otherwise steadily upward trend are attributed to major volcanic eruptions, such as Mt. Pinatubo in 1991 leading to the 1992 index dip. More details about how the index is calculated can be found at the above title link.

My assessment of this index? I think the parameters it includes are both very important and very appropriate. As many of you know, I have always said that global average temperature is a just one of the key parameters to look at relative to climate change, and a highly variable one as well.