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Tamsin Edwards on the uncertainty in climate science

All climate change models are wrong. Tamsin Edwards tells Jim Al Khalili why.

Certainty is comforting. Certainty is quick. But science is uncertain. And this is particularly true for people who are trying to understand climate change.

Climate scientist, Tamsin Edwards tackles this uncertainty head on. She quantifies the uncertainty inherent in all climate change predictions to try and understand which of many possible storylines about the future of our planet are most likely to come true. How likely is it that the ice cliffs in Antarctica will collapse into the sea causing a terrifying amount of sea level rise? Even the best supercomputers in the world aren鈥檛 fast enough to do all the calculations we need to understand what might be going on, so Tamsin uses statistical tools to fill in the gaps.

She joined the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 2018 and is currently working on the 6th Assessment Report which will inform the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP26. She tells Jim Al-Khalili about her life and work and why she wishes more people would have the humility (and confidence) to consider the possibility that they might be wrong.

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27 minutes

Last on

Mon 6 Sep 2021 00:32GMT

Broadcasts

  • Mon 30 Aug 2021 19:32GMT
  • Tue 31 Aug 2021 03:32GMT
  • Tue 31 Aug 2021 04:32GMT
  • Tue 31 Aug 2021 08:32GMT
  • Tue 31 Aug 2021 12:32GMT
  • Mon 6 Sep 2021 00:32GMT

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