Global temperatures to rise five degrees Celsius in a hundred years?

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) study said there is a 90% chance that temperatures will rise 9 degrees Fahrenheit, or five degrees Celsius, by 2100. Labelled by researchers as "the most exhaustive end-to-end analysis of climate change impacts yet performed", the study's prediction is on the very high end of the 2 to 11 degree Fahrenheit increase that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) forecasted back in 2007.

Such an increase would almost certainly have drastic effects on global climate, and the impacts from climate change would be far greater than previously anticipated. A nine degree shift, for example, could have London's climate in 2100 similar to southern France's today and New York's 2100 climate like North Carolina's today.

The study is being published in this month's issue of the Journal of Climate. Researchers used 400 applications of computer models to determine the 9 degree Fahrenheit figure while considering atmospheric, biological and oceanic factors.

Researchers also said the most effective way to curb the drastic temperature increase would be to significantly reduce the output of greenhouse gases.