This should be only the first of many studies that will verify the link. As models become more finely tuned they will be able to point to new areas to investigate.
As we move forward we should also see the effect of DST (Dynamical Systems Theory) sometimes referred to as ?Chaos Theory?. Remember ?a butterfly flapping its wings in China can cause a tornado in Kansas??
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaos_theoryDST says that for any complex and highly disorganized system we will see a set of two or more nodal points that the system will move between. This ? the nodal shift - should occur with increasing frequency as the system moves closer and closer to a permanent state change. DST also informs us that adding energy to any highly disorganized system will cause it to seek a new equilibrium if only for a short period of time.
Increasing the amount of energy in the atmosphere by even one degree globally represents a huge increase in the energy in the system. This causes instability and change. I believe this is what we are seeing by the increasing hot/cold/dry/wet sequences in Europe and globally.
When a chaotic system has had the right amount of extra energy injected into it it will likely jump to one of its new islands of stability. This does not happen slowly. It is like an overinflated balloon when it breaks. The balloon goes through a catastrophic state change. This is what will happen with our climate when the temperature reaches about the temperature we have now. Soon ? within 10 years ? we will see what our climate looks like when it goes through a catastrophic (from our view) state change.
None of us can possibly predict what will happen but from a scientific perspective it will be very interesting and informative. The scientific amusement will be tempered by the actual impact of the change on human lives.
