In the previous two labs, you used historical climate data to look at trends in temperature and precipitation patterns. In this lab, you will look at what complex climate models predict for the rest of this century.

The USGS National Climate Change Viewer (NCCV) includes the historical and future climate projections from 30 climate models for two of greenhouse gas scenarios, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5.

RCP4.5 is one of the possible emissions scenarios in which atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations are stabilized so as not to exceed a level of about 650 ppm CO2 equivalent. RCP8.5 is a scenario in which greenhouse gases continue to rise unchecked through the end of the century leading to a level of about 1370 ppm CO2 equivalent.