MyQJ | QJ.NET | iPhone | MMORPG | Nintendo DS | Wii | PlayStation 3 | PSP | Xbox 360 | Downloads | QJ.NET Forums | Advertise on QJ!

Climate may experience sudden changes within years

Posted Feb 05, 2008 at 01:35PM by Isaac C. Listed in: Global Warming, Weather Tags: Arctic, global warming, El Nino
Ó



In "The Day After Tomorrow," we were shown an extreme shift in the Earth's climate, bringing about a new Ice Age in a span of a few days. While this may be an exaggerated timespan, we may yet see major climate shifts in the near future.

Global warming has been a hot topic in the last few years. Numerous organizations have made efforts to bring about global awareness and while it has made headway we need to ask the question: are we too late?

In a new research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, scientists have identified the Earth's "tipping points." A tipping point is the climate's threshold on human activity before it experiences long-term consequences.

The scientists involved in the research outlined nine major tipping points in the Earth's climate. Some of them will be experienced during our lifetime:
  • Melting of Arctic sea-ice (approx 10 years)
  • Decay of the Greenland ice sheet (more than 300 years)
  • Collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet (more than 300 years)
  • Collapse of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation (approx 100 years)
  • Increase in the El Nino Southern Oscillation (approx 100 years)
  • Collapse of the Indian summer monsoon (approx 1 year)
  • Greening of the Sahara/Sahel and disruption of the West African monsoon (approx 10 years)
  • Dieback of the Amazon rainforest (approx 50 years)
  • Dieback of the Boreal Forest (approx 50 years)
According to Professor Tim Lenton of the University of East Anglia, lead author of the research paper, he states that:

Our findings suggest that a variety of tipping elements could reach their critical point within this century under human-induced climate change. The greatest threats are tipping of the Arctic sea-ice and the Greenland ice sheet, and at least five other elements could surprise us by exhibiting a nearby tipping point.

[Via University of East Anglia] Permalink  |   Email this  |   Linking Blogs   |   Digg It!

Bookmark / Find this article on:

0 Comments


Sort by:


Contact
QJ.NET Blog Network RSS Feeds
MyQJ Feed / PDA
MyQJ RSS / PDA
Blog of Blogs Feed / PDA
QJ.NET RSS / PDA
Gaming Consoles Feed / PDA
Nintendo DS RSS / PDA
PlayStation 3 RSS / PDA
PSP Updates RSS / PDA
Wii RSS / PDA
Xbox 360 RSS / PDA
PC Gaming Feed / PDA
Age of Conan RSS / PDA
Games for Windows RSS / PDA
MMORPG RSS / PDA
Tabula Rasa RSS / PDA
World of Warcraft RSS / PDA
Science Feed / PDA
Science RSS / PDA
Technology Feed / PDA
Apple RSS / PDA
Gadgets RSS / PDA
iPhone RSS / PDA
Mobile RSS / PDA
Photography RSS / PDA
Tech RSS / PDA
Add QJ.NET
Add to My Yahoo!
Google Reader Subscribe with Bloglines
Add to your Kinja digest Subscribe in NewsGator Online
Subscribe with Pluck RSS reader Add 'www.qj.net' to Newsburst from CNET News.com
Subscribe with SearchFox RSS del.icio.us www.qj.net
Add to Technorati Favorite! Add to My AOL
furl! it Stumble for Treehugger!
User Favorites - October
Most Commented
No commented articles
User Favorites - October
Top Jumps
No available articles using criteria

 Username: 
 Password:
Forgot password
New user registration



Poll
Are unidentified flying objects (UFOs) really alien spaceships?
Earth Science
General Science
Health Science
Space
Archives


Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of the TERMS & CONDITIONS and PRIVACY POLICY
Copyright © 2006, Content Holdings, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Version. 1.31