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As one of the leading authors of the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report, the UA's Jonathan Overpeck said the panel's Nobel Peace Prize win validates the significance of global-warming research.

Sharing the prize with former Vice President Al Gore are the scientists representing more than 180 governments on the United Nations panel. The group's latest publication, a six-year worldwide climate report released in February, concluded with a 90 percent certainty that the causes of global climate change are man-made.

"I played a leadership role in this last IPCC assessment, so it makes me feel even better about giving my life to that for five years, but nonetheless I'm just one of many," said Overpeck, who was one of 33 lead authors on the report. "It's very cool they recognized not just the prime spokesman in the world for climate change but also all the scientists who built the knowledge."

Overpeck, director of the UA's Institute for the Study of Planet Earth, in February called the research "unequivocal" and a "slam dunk." In a phone interview while he was on the road Friday he said the significance of the award is in how far the global-warming debate has progressed.

"To reflect, it's a peace prize, and I think the reason for that is people realize the scale of climate change if we don't act is large enough to cause widespread disruption, conflict and human suffering in the world," Overpeck said. "What scientists have been saying is 'This is what could happen' and what Vice President Gore has been doing is trying to make people understand that."

The research will surely continue to refine the models of climate change and what precisely will result from varying degrees of global warming, Overpeck said.

"We have to figure out where the dangerous climate change begins and help guide policymakers to avoid that," Overpeck said. "Our job is to say, 'If we put up this amount of greenhouse gas, we'll get X, Y and Z.' We have a lot of work to refine that and figure out where the tipping points are, where the dangerous thresholds may be."

And Overpeck said the University of Arizona, with its long history of interdisciplinary climate research, is among the world's leaders in making sure knowledge gets used and scientific information influences decision-making in society.

"We're the best university in the world when it comes to understanding climate and water, and we're one of the very best also in understanding climate and ecosystems," he said. "We're put in a great position to help society adapt to climate change."

In addition to Overpeck's lab, the UA has long been involved in climate studies through the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, and now has a one-of-a-kind laboratory in Biosphere 2 to study climate on a larger scale.

"We're extraordinarily well-positioned for the research that needs to be done," said Joaquin Ruiz, dean of the UA's College of Science. "I have felt for years now that one of the most important scientific issues that society has to address for its well-being is global climate change."

Ruiz, who last year developed a popular UA climate-change lecture series that's now being repeated in Phoenix, praised the researchers.

"Their work was instrumental in coalescing very, very complicated science into a holistic program that recognizes global climate change is a reality," he said. "It's wonderful to see it's now recognized throughout the world."