CLIMATE
TIPPING POINTS - ENVIRONMENT
News:
Warming up to climate
change: What are climate tipping points?
What's
in the news?
●
There is no dearth of reports highlighting
the consequences of climate change, including droughts, water scarcity, severe
wildfires, rising sea levels, etc.
Key
takeaways:
●
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) defines ‘tipping points’ as “critical thresholds in a system
that, when exceeded, can lead to a significant change in the state of the
system, often with an understanding that the change is irreversible.”
Climate
Tipping Points:
●
Climate tipping points are critical thresholds in the Earth's climate
system, beyond which natural systems can undergo irreversible and
disastrous changes.
●
These changes can lead to more warming and have cascading effects on the planet.
Concerns:
Irreversible
Damages:
●
Rising
global temperatures can trigger a change like a rainforest
becoming a dry savannah.
●
This change is propelled by self-perpetuating feedback loops, even
if what was driving the change in the system stops.
●
The system – in this case the forest – may
remain ‘tipped’ even if the temperature falls below the threshold again,”
according to a report by the European Space Agency.
Domino
Effect:
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Breaching one tipping point can increase
the likelihood of crossing others — triggering a catastrophic domino effect.
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For instance, unabated global warming can
cause irreversible ice melt from the Greenland
ice sheet.
●
This could slow down the ocean’s
circulation of heat, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation
(AMOC), which, in turn, could impact South America’s monsoon system.
●
Changes in the monsoon system may lead to
a rise in the frequency of droughts in the Amazon rainforest
Major
Identified Tipping Points:
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Collapse of Greenland
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Collapse of West Antarctic ice sheets
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Amazon rainforest degradation
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Widespread permafrost thaw
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Death of warm water coral reefs
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Disruption of a key Atlantic ocean current
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Boreal forest dieback
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Loss of Arctic summer sea ice