The quiet crossing of ocean tipping points

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
• Main Authors: Heinze, Christoph, Blenckner, Thorsten, MARTINS, Helena, Rusiecka, Dagmara, Döscher, Ralf, Gehlen, Marion, Gruber, Nicolas, Holland, Elisabeth, Hov, Øystein, Joos, Fortunat, Matthews, John Brian Robin, Rødven, Rolf, Wilson, Simon
• Other Authors: University of Bergen (UiB), Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement Gif-sur-Yvette (LSCE), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), Modelling the Earth Response to Multiple Anthropogenic Interactions and Dynamics (MERMAID), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Paris-Saclay-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ), Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich (ETH Zürich)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2021
• Subjects: ocean; biogeochemistry; climate change; tipping points; regime shifts; envir; geo; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2008478118; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03149435/file/e2008478118.full.pdf; https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03149435

International audience Anthropogenic climate change profoundly alters the ocean’s environmental conditions, which, in turn, impact marine ecosystems. Some of these changes are happening fast and may be difficult to reverse. The identification and monitoring of such changes, which also includes tipping points, is an ongoing and emerging research effort. Prevention of negative impacts requires mitigation efforts based on feasible research-based pathways. Climate-induced tipping points are traditionally associated with singular catastrophic events (relative to natural variations) of dramatic negative impact. High-probability high-impact ocean tipping points due to warming, ocean acidification, and deoxygenation may be more fragmented both regionally and in time but add up to global dimensions. These tipping points in combination with gradual changes need to be addressed as seriously as singular catastrophic events in order to prevent the cumulative and often compounding negative societal and Earth system impacts.