Scientist Warns Of Climate-Controlling Tipping Points - BBC

[hatrack]

"The world has barely begun to recognise the danger of setting off rapid and irreversible changes in some crucial natural systems, a scientist says. Professor John Schellnhuber says the most important environmental issues for humans are among the least understood.

He told a briefing in Sweden that the Asian monsoon was one of the "tipping points" that could change very quickly. He said a better understanding of the risks was as important as the programme to prevent collisions with asteroids.

Professor Schellnhuber is research director of the UK's Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research.

EDIT

One example of a hotspot was the North Atlantic current, the ocean circulation pattern responsible for bringing warmer air to northern Europe, the collapse of which could lead to a very large regional climate shift. Others were the West Antarctic ice sheet, the Sahara desert, and the forests of the Amazon basin. Yet another hotspot, Professor Schellnhuber said, was the Asian monsoon system. He told BBC News Online: "Modelling has shown that if air pollution and land use change, this could alter the albedo, the reflectivity, of the land."

EDIT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3597584.stm

[phantom power]

1. I hope that Kerry groks this. I hope he wins.

[indigobusiness]

2. This is happening so much more quickly than most realize

snip

If these critical regions were subjected to stress, they could trigger large-scale, rapid changes across the entire planet. But not enough was known about them to be able to predict when the limits of tolerance were reached.

"We have so far completely underestimated the importance of these locations," he said.

"What we do know is that going beyond critical thresholds in these regions could have dramatic consequences for humans and other life forms."

One example of a hotspot was the North Atlantic current, the ocean circulation pattern responsible for bringing warmer air to northern Europe, the collapse of which could lead to a very large regional climate shift.

snip
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Perhaps as soon as this winter, England could see brutal winters.
With the North Atlantic current shutting down, and the heat lost through the melting of the polar cap, the drought and heat of some areas will be matched by brutal cold and flooding in others. The snap back from global warming to global cooling will be astonishingly swift.