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7 Tipping Points That Could Transform Earth | Wired Science | Wired.com
When the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issue its last report in 2007, environmental tipping points were a footnote. A troubling footnote, to be sure, but the science was relatively new and unsettled. Straightforward global warming was enough to worry about.
But when the IPCC meets in 2014, tipping points or tipping elements, in academic vernacular will get much more attention. Scientists still disagree about which planetary systems are extra-sensitive to climate shifts, but the possibility cant be ignored.
The problem with tipping elements is that if any of them tips, it will be a real catastrophe. None of them are small, said Anders Levermann, a climate physicist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany.
Levermanns article on potential disruptions of South Asias monsoon cycles was featured in a series of tipping element research reviews, published December 8 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Also discussed were ocean circulation, polar icecaps, Amazon rainforests, seafloor methane deposits and a west African dustbowl. Each is stressed by rising planetary temperatures. Some are less likely than others to tip; some might not be able to tip at all. Ambiguities, probabilities a limited grasp of Earths complex systems are inherent to the science. But if any tip, it will be an epic disaster.
Wired Science takes you on a tour.
Read More 7 Tipping Points That Could Transform Earth | Wired Science | Wired.com
When the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issue its last report in 2007, environmental tipping points were a footnote. A troubling footnote, to be sure, but the science was relatively new and unsettled. Straightforward global warming was enough to worry about.
But when the IPCC meets in 2014, tipping points or tipping elements, in academic vernacular will get much more attention. Scientists still disagree about which planetary systems are extra-sensitive to climate shifts, but the possibility cant be ignored.
The problem with tipping elements is that if any of them tips, it will be a real catastrophe. None of them are small, said Anders Levermann, a climate physicist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany.
Levermanns article on potential disruptions of South Asias monsoon cycles was featured in a series of tipping element research reviews, published December 8 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Also discussed were ocean circulation, polar icecaps, Amazon rainforests, seafloor methane deposits and a west African dustbowl. Each is stressed by rising planetary temperatures. Some are less likely than others to tip; some might not be able to tip at all. Ambiguities, probabilities a limited grasp of Earths complex systems are inherent to the science. But if any tip, it will be an epic disaster.
Wired Science takes you on a tour.
Read More 7 Tipping Points That Could Transform Earth | Wired Science | Wired.com
