Description:

Constraining Earth's climate sensitivity (defined as the long-term global surface temperature response to the radiative forcing from greenhouse gases) is both a key societal imperative and a stubborn scientific problem. Climate models, paleo proxies, and observational records have traditionally yielded differing sensitivities. Recent progress on understanding the links between surface temperature and the planetary energy budget on different timescales have helped reconcile some of these differences. In this session we will bring together multiple perspectives for a critical assessment of the state of the science on climate sensitivity. We welcome submissions that synthesize multiple lines of evidence in novel ways and/or contribute new perspectives, evidence, or process-based understanding.