The warming of the climate system is unequivocal and climate change has become a real and imminent challenge to the world. Through a questions and answer approach, the Climate Change FAQs will explain some basic knowledge and facts of climate change in layman terms in order to enhance the publics’ understanding of the causes of the climate change, its impacts and what we can do to mitigate its effects.

Below are 23 topics in the Climate Change FAQs:

1. What Is the difference between weather and climate?
2. What is climate change?
3. What is IPCC?
4. What is greenhouse effect?
5. How do human activities contribute to climate change?
6. How are temperatures on Earth changing?
7. What changes in precipitation can we expect?
8. Is the amount of snow and ice on the Earth decreasing?
9. Is sea level rising?
10. Are extreme weather events becoming more frequent?
11. Can individual extreme events be explained by climate change?
12. Why snowstorms and extremely cold weather still occur in some regions under global warming?
13. Can the warming of the 20th century be explained by natural factors?
14. Are the oceans warming up too?
15. What is the "2°C Target"?
16. Are tropical cyclone activities changing?
17. What is thermohaline circulation?
18. What are global warming potential and carbon dioxide equivalent?
19. Climate change and extreme precipitation : Is there a connection ?
20. Do volcanoes emit more carbon dioxide than human activities?
21. What is medieval warm period?
22. How do scientists reconstruct the temperature tens of thousands of years ago?
23. Is the melting of glaciers in West Antarctica unstoppable?

To find out the answers and to know more about climate change, please visit Hong Kong Observatory website: http://www.hko.gov.hk/climate_change/climate_change_e.htm