A warning on warming for Southeast

Increased flooding, more smog, fewer species and the threat of tropical diseases are all possible results of global warming in metro Atlanta and throughout the Southeast, a panel of scientists said Wednesday.

And as winters continue to warm, cockroaches and fleas will thrive, becoming an even greater nuisance.

But not even the best research can provide specifics on exactly when and how global climate change will be felt in the region.

"The most important thing to recognize is that we're going to be surprised a lot," said Robert Harriss, president and chief executive officer of the Houston Advanced Research Center, an environmentally friendly nonprofit group offering technological and policy expertise.

Harriss and three other scientists, including Judith Curry, chairwoman of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech, talked to reporters Wednesday to draw attention to the plight of the South as the climate warms. The next report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is due Friday and will assess worldwide consequences and project changes to come.

Harriss and the other scientists said evidence of warming will vary from place to place. The Southwest, for example, is expected to experience more severe droughts, while parts of the Southeast, including Georgia, should get more rainfall, although concentrated in more severe storms.

Stronger hurricanes

In February, the IPCC released the first of three reports this year assessing the science of climate change. In it, more than 2,000 climate scientists from 130 countries agreed there is indisputable evidence that global warming is occurring, and human activity that creates heat-trapping pollution from cars, planes, industries and power plants is the leading cause.

Georgia Tech's Curry said rising sea temperatures will lead to more intense hurricanes within a decade — "the most devastating short-term impacts of global warming for the southeastern United States."

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