IPCC AR6 Q&A

In our group, we have contributed to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), primarily to working group 1 (WG1), Chapter 9, on Sea-Level Change (2021), and the IPCC AR6 Synthesis report (2023).

Q: Where can I find the IPCC AR6 WG1 report?

A: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/, with sea-level change primarily in Chapter 9.6, and the sea level projections in Section 9.6.3.

Q: Where can I find the IPCC AR6 Synthesis report?

A: https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/, with the main statements on sea-level change in A.2.1, B.1.4 and B3, and in Figure SPM.4 and Long Report Figures 3.4 and 4.3. 

(LR figure 3.4, click for larger version)

Q: Can I view and use the IPCC AR6 sea level projections?

A: Yes, please do! The projections are presented in the interactive atlas of IPCC AR6: https://interactive-atlas.ipcc.ch/. In addition, an online tool with much more options has been developed in collaboration with NASA, which is publicly available though https://sealevel.nasa.gov/data_tools/17. The complete projections data set is downloadable through Zenodo: https://zenodo.org/record/6382554#.YvZJK_HP3ao. If you use the data, please acknowledge our work by citing the appropriate publications. 

Q: What if I want to use my own VLM estimates with the IPCC sea level projections?

A: There is a set of projections available which does not include the VLM component: https://zenodo.org/records/5967269. Here, you can add in your own VLM estimate.

Q: Will the sea-level projection framework FACTS become publicly available?

A: Yes. A GMD paper was published on the FACTS framework (Kopp et al., 2023) and there is a Github with the code: https://github.com/radical-collaboration/facts/. If you intend to set up and run FACTS and run into problems, do let us know via the github page. 

Q: What is the reference for Chapter 9?

A: Fox-Kemper, B., H.T. Hewitt, C. Xiao, G. Aðalgeirsdóttir, S.S. Drijfhout, T.L. Edwards, N.R. Golledge, M. Hemer, R.E. Kopp, G. Krinner, A. Mix, D. Notz, S. Nowicki, I.S. Nurhati, L. Ruiz, J.-B. Sallée, A.B.A. Slangen, and Y. Yu, 2021: Ocean, Cryosphere and Sea Level Change. In Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Masson-Delmotte, V., P. Zhai, A. Pirani, S.L. Connors, C. Péan, S. Berger, N. Caud, Y. Chen, L. Goldfarb, M.I. Gomis, M. Huang, K. Leitzell, E. Lonnoy, J.B.R. Matthews, T.K. Maycock, T. Waterfield, O. Yelekçi, R. Yu, and B. Zhou (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, pp. 1211–1362, doi:10.1017/9781009157896.011.