PRECARIOUS TIPPING POINTS

The six most likely to be crossed soonest:

  • Greenland Ice Sheet collapse
  • West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapse
  • Collapse of ocean circulation in the polar region of the North Atlantic
  • Coral reef die off in the low latitudes
  • Sudden thawing of permafrost in the Northern regions
  • Abrupt sea ice loss in the Barents Sea

One list of tipping points:

Amazon rainforest: frequent droughts

Arctic sea ice: reduction in area

Atlantic Meridional Overturning circulation: in slowdown since 1950’s

Boreal forest: fires and pests changing

Coral reefs: large-scale die-offs

Greenland ice sheet: ice loss accelerating

Permafrost: thawing

West Antarctica ice sheet: ice loss accelerating

East Antarctica ice sheet: ice loss accelerating

Mountain glaciers: melting

Barents sea ice: possible abrupt loss

The scariest thing is that these can interact with each other in a way that increases the likelihood of disaster, and too frequently scientists find that it’s getting worse faster than they thought it would.

www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/12/climate-tipping-points-earth/

www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-62838627

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abn7950