Recent published research shows the danger of massive, potentially irreversible, global sea-level rise within the next couple of centuries should temperatures overshoot 2°C. Perhaps most sobering, this loss may become rapid and permanent, with no halt in ice loss even should CO2 concentrations return t pre-industrial levels; and rates approaching 5 cm/year by 2150, and…
Ice shelves buttress glaciers – a new mechanism involving rift dynamics suggests ice shelfs could retreat faster than previously modeled. SciTechDaily: “The thinning of the ice melange that glues together large segments of floating ice shelves is another way climate change can cause rapid retreat of Antarctica’s ice shelves,” said co-author Eric Rignot, UCI professor…
These results indicate that climate tipping is an imminent risk in the Earth System. Even the safe operating space of 1.5 or 2.0 degrees above present generally assumed by the IPCC might not be all that safe. According to the precautionary principle, we must consider abrupt and irreversible changes to the climate system as a real risk – at least until we understand these phenomena better.
In recent months scientists noticed that many climate models were not prepared for the real world developments manifesting now as the climate changes.
The study, “Interacting tipping elements increase risk of climate domino effects under global warming” by Nico Wunderling, Jonathan F. Donges, Jürgen Kurths, and Ricarda Winkelmann from the Potsdam Institute finds potential severe consequences from continued climate change. The Guardian has a study breakdown, which can be accessed here. Analysis shows significant risk of cascading events even at 2C…
By Harold R. Wanless, professor of Geography and Regional Studies, University of Miami, published by EOS. The climate emergency is bigger than many experts, elected officials, and activists realize. Humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions have overheated the Earth’s atmosphere, unleashing punishing heat waves, hurricanes, and other extreme weather—that much is widely understood. The larger problem is…
Flood basalts and mass extinctions – ancient hyperthermals as analogs for anthropogenic climate change. Oceanic Anoxic Event (OAE) and mass extinctions are considered to be hyperthermals – usually associated with flood basalt eruptions.[2] Phases of rapid global warming, known collectively as hyperthermals.[1] Flood basalts are a subset of large igneous provinces (LIPs), the terms flood basalt…
Soil layers of permafrost that scientists expected to remain frozen for at least 70 more years have already begun thawing. NOTES In the Canadian Arctic, layers of permafrost that scientists expected to remain frozen for at least 70 years have already begun thawing. The once-frozen surface is now sinking and dotted with melt ponds and…
Authors: Hongyue Dang, Jia Li Dang, H. & Li, J. Sci. China Earth Sci. (2018) 61: 1714. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-017-9265-y Access and read the PDF with inline linkages, and reference list here. Abstract The global warming potential of methane (CH4) is about 30 times stronger than that of carbon dioxide (CO2) over a century timescale. Methane emission is hypothesized…