BBC climate model says UK temperatures could rise by 4C in 70 years

Computer model generated by hundreds of thousands of home users

19 January 2007 10:39 GMT / By Amber Maitland

The BBC is going to release its findings from a computer model of climate change this weekend in a programme narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

The model was run on people's home computers. They simply downloaded a small piece of software from climateprediction.net, and let it run while they weren't using their computer.

250,000 peoples from 171 countries downloaded the software. Results show that in 2020, the UK will be about 1.2C warmer than in the 70s, which is the baseline.

In 2050, they'll be about 2.5C higher, and by 2080, they could reach 4C. The global forecast will be presented during the TV programme.

The piece of software sent the data back to Oxford University, where research studied the data. Those participating in the model could keep track of what's going on by bringing up graphics to show them what year their individual model reached.

In April, 2 months after the trial was launched, the BBC admitted that there had been an error in the model.

The Corporation said at the time, "The fault in a Climateprediction.net model launched in February causes temperatures in past climates to rise quicker than seen in real observations”.

The scientists said they had fixed the fault, and that the data that had already been collected was still useful.

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Software, PC software, BBC