WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- A new study published Thursday in U.S. journal Science shows that climate researchers will not be able to further refine estimates of the climates sensitivity to anthropogenic influences.

    Despite decades of ever more-exacting science projecting Earth's warming climate, there remains large uncertainty about just how much warming will actually occur, said two University of Washington scientists.

    This finding could encourage policy makers to begin making climate-related decisions instead of waiting for better analyses, said the scientific journal.

    Scientists believe the uncertainty remains so high because the climate system itself is very sensitive to a variety of factors, such as increased greenhouse gases or a higher concentration of atmospheric particles that reflect sunlight back into space.

    In essence, they found that the more likely it is that conditions will cause climate to warm, the more uncertainty exists about how much warming there will be.

    They devised and tested a theory they believe can help climate modelers and observers understand the range of probabilities from various factors, or feedbacks, involved in climate change.

    For climate change, "uncertainty and sensitivity have to go hand in hand. They're inextricable," said Gerard Roe, one of the study author.