Nine ‘tipping points’ that could be triggered by climate change

by Carbonbrief.org

Highlights

While climate records are being routinely broken, the cumulative impact of these changes could also cause fundamental parts of the Earth system to change dramatically and irreversibly. These “tipping points” are thresholds where a tiny change could push a system into a completely new state.
In some cases, there is evidence that once the system has jumped to a different state, then if you remove the climate forcing, the climate system doesn’t just jump back to the original state – it stays in its changed state for some considerable time, or possibly even permanently.
The nine tipping points discussed include: 1. Shutdown of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation
2. West Antarctic ice sheet disintegration
3. Amazon rainforest dieback
4. West African monsoon shift
5. Permafrost and methane hydrates
6. Coral reef die-off
7. Indian monsoon shift
8. Greenland ice sheet disintegration
9. Boreal forest shift
This is not an exhaustive list – there are other parts of the Earth system that have the potential to display tipping point behavior.
Human society may also have “tipping points” that favor climate action.

The Climate Center’s rapid decarbonization campaign uses a timeline based on the latest scientific findings and supports achieving carbon neutrality by 2030.

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Stacey Meinzen

Communications Manager at The Climate Center

Stacey Meinzen has fifteen years of experience as a communications and research professional. She has served as a Marketing Specialist for the Sonoma County Energy Independence Program, researched proven and promising measures in reducing greenhouse gas emissions for Sonoma County’s Climate Action 2020 Plan, and worked as a Program Analyst for Sonoma County’s Regional Climate Protection Authority.

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