Understanding climate tipping must be prioritized
Evidence is mounting that the Earth’s climate system can change abruptly when tipping points are crossed, for example by anthropogenic release of greenhouse gases. We urgently need to understand and predict these abrupt transitions better. A list of priorities for … Continued
North Atlantic Ocean currents are closest to a tipping point in a thousand years
A new reconstructed index of sea surface temperatures confirms previous research: The North Atlantic ocean currents appear to be approaching a point of no return, where their strength will inevitably weaken in the coming decades and centuries. Researchers confirm find that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning … Continued
Policy event with Comfort and TiPACCS
A Policy Brief for the EU says that taking advantage of groundbreaking research and having science and policy working collaboratively is the only way to prevent the destabilization of major Earth system tipping elements and avoiding the critical thresholds known … Continued
Switzerland initiates asking IPCC for a special report on “Climate Tipping Points and their Implications for Habitability and Resources”
The Geneva environment network together with Switzerland today organized a briefing presenting the initiative asking the IPCC to elaborate a Special Report on “Climate Tipping Points and their Implications for Habitability and Resources”. TiPES researcher Thomas Stocker was in the … Continued
TiPES at EGU 2022
TiPES will as every year present our most recent science at the European Geophysical Union (EGU) meeting in Vienna. We are the main convener of one session; NP 2.4 on Nonlinear Dynamics and Tipping Points in the Earth System. But … Continued
From a bird’s eye view – monitoring vegetation resilience from space
In an empirical study published today in “Nature Climate Change”, Dr. Taylor Smith from the University of Potsdam and his colleagues at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and Technical University of Munich (TUM) show that the ability … Continued
Study suggests abrupt climate change during the last ice age was controlled by CO2 levels
Abrupt global climate changes, named Dansgaard-Oeschger events, that appeared throughout the last ice age, likely depended on the atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide (CO2)concentration, study shows Large jumps within the last ice age between cold and warm climate periods in … Continued
Climate tipping might not always be disastrous
Crossing a tipping point may lead to many other situations than the generally assumed catastrophic outcome. The consequences of crossing a tipping point might often be much more subtle and less severe than generally assumed. That is the conclusion of … Continued
The Amazon rainforest seems to be approaching a tipping point
Data analysis reveals the rainforest is losing resilience and is approaching a critical transition More than three-quarters of the Amazon rainforest has been losing resilience since early 2000, and the rainforest now shows characteristic signs of approaching a tipping point. … Continued