Nature & Environment
Runaway Global Warming Could Occur: Synchronization of the North Atlantic and Pacific
Catherine Griffin
First Posted: Jul 24, 2014 04:39 PM EDT
Could our world be heading toward a "tipping point" when it comes to climate change? Scientists have taken a closer look at the geologic past in order to understand the mechanisms of abrupt climate change that could potentially lead to runaway global warming.
The scientists examined the emergence of synchronized climate variability in the North Pacific Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean a few hundred years before the rapid warming that took place at the end of the last ice age about 15,000 years ago.
"Synchronization of two major ocean systems can amplify the transport of heat toward the polar regions and cause larger fluctuations in northern hemisphere climate," said Summer Praetorius, one of the researchers, in a news release. "This is consistent with theoretical predictions of what happens when Earth's climate reaches a tipping point. This doesn't necessarily mean that the same thing will happen in the future, but we cannot rule out that possibility."
The researchers found that synchronization of the two regional systems began as climate was gradually warming. After synchronization, there was a wild variability that amplified the changes and accelerated into an abrupt warming event of several degrees within just a few decades.
"As the systems become synchronized, they organized and reinforced each other, eventually running away like screeching feedback from a microphone," said Alan Mix, co-author of the new paper. "Suddenly you had the combined effects of two major oceans forcing the climate instead of one at a time. The example that we uncovered is a cause for concern because many people assume that climate change will be gradual and predictable. But the study shows that there can be vast climate swings over a period of decades to centuries. If such a thing happened in the future, it could challenge society's ability to cope."
The findings reveal a bit more about how our climate could potentially experience a drastic shift in a relatively short period of time. This is important to take into account as our climate continues to change.
The findings are published in the journal Science.
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First Posted: Jul 24, 2014 04:39 PM EDT
Could our world be heading toward a "tipping point" when it comes to climate change? Scientists have taken a closer look at the geologic past in order to understand the mechanisms of abrupt climate change that could potentially lead to runaway global warming.
The scientists examined the emergence of synchronized climate variability in the North Pacific Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean a few hundred years before the rapid warming that took place at the end of the last ice age about 15,000 years ago.
"Synchronization of two major ocean systems can amplify the transport of heat toward the polar regions and cause larger fluctuations in northern hemisphere climate," said Summer Praetorius, one of the researchers, in a news release. "This is consistent with theoretical predictions of what happens when Earth's climate reaches a tipping point. This doesn't necessarily mean that the same thing will happen in the future, but we cannot rule out that possibility."
The researchers found that synchronization of the two regional systems began as climate was gradually warming. After synchronization, there was a wild variability that amplified the changes and accelerated into an abrupt warming event of several degrees within just a few decades.
"As the systems become synchronized, they organized and reinforced each other, eventually running away like screeching feedback from a microphone," said Alan Mix, co-author of the new paper. "Suddenly you had the combined effects of two major oceans forcing the climate instead of one at a time. The example that we uncovered is a cause for concern because many people assume that climate change will be gradual and predictable. But the study shows that there can be vast climate swings over a period of decades to centuries. If such a thing happened in the future, it could challenge society's ability to cope."
The findings reveal a bit more about how our climate could potentially experience a drastic shift in a relatively short period of time. This is important to take into account as our climate continues to change.
The findings are published in the journal Science.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone