It’s impossible to predict exactly when or how climate change will spiral out of control, but a new study claims that it’s possible to find the “climate tipping points” (with apologies to Malcom Gladwell)–the small changes that lead to dramatic shifts in the climate–by developing early warning systems that analyze observational data and look for signs that the climate is becoming unstable.
What are the tipping points that we should watch out for? The study ranks them from highest to lowest risk, and from highest to lowest likelihood. Luckily for us, the most likely also happens to be the least risky (what’s some flooding in comparison to the collapse of all sea life in the ocean, right?). Here is what you should be worried for, from most to least problematic for our planet:
West African Monsoon Shift
Western Sub-Saharan Africa’s annual monsoon occurs because of seasonal temperature and humidity differences between the equatorial Atlantic Ocean and the Sahara. If those start to change, that could mean an increase in drought and famine in the region. On a global scale, the impact of altering hydrological cycles that “regulate the moisture and heat budget of the atmosphere” could have far wider-ranging effects.
West Antarctic Ice Sheet Collapse/Greenland Ice Sheet Meltdown
