CLIMATE COULD TIP ANYTIME

Climate 'Tipping Points' May Arrive Without Warning, Says Top Forecaster
February 9, 2010 (NASA)

"A new University of California, Davis, study by a top ecological forecaster says it is harder than experts thought to predict when sudden shifts in Earth's natural systems will occur -- a worrisome finding for scientists trying to identify the tipping points that could push climate change into an irreparable global disaster."

[Alan Hastings, award-winning theoretical ecologist, U.C. Davis:] "Many scientists are looking for the warning signs that herald sudden changes in natural systems, in hopes of forestalling those changes, or improving our preparations for them…Our new study found, unfortunately, that regime shifts with potentially large consequences can happen without warning — systems can ‘tip’ precipitously…This means that some effects of global climate change on ecosystems can be seen only once the effects are dramatic. By that point returning the system to a desirable state will be difficult, if not impossible."

This is a truly brilliant simulation of how dangerously rapidly global changes are occuring. It takes a few minutes of study. From djxatlanta/NSF/DOE via YouTube

"...[Regime shifts in ecological systems can occur with no warning,] focuses on models from ecology, but its findings may be applicable to other complex systems…Scientists widely agree that global climate change is already causing major environmental effects, such as changes in the frequency and intensity of precipitation, droughts, heat waves and wildfires; rising sea level; water shortages in arid regions; new and larger pest outbreaks afflicting crops and forests; and expanding ranges for tropical pathogens that cause human illness.

"And they fear that worse is in store…[Among the most significant tipping points are]: the complete disappearance of Arctic sea ice in summer, leading to drastic changes in ocean circulation and climate patterns across the whole Northern Hemisphere; acceleration of ice loss from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, driving rates of sea-level increase to 6 feet or more per century; and ocean acidification from carbon dioxide absorption, causing massive disruption in ocean food webs."