Tipping points; does anybody not understand these?

Question

it looks like we have already passed a few; forget greenland ice sheet, it's gone! and i dont hold out much hope for the west atlantic ice sheet either. or the amazon.

http://www.bio-medicine.org/biology-news-1/Tipping-elements-in-the-Earths-climate-system-2113-1/

my big worry is methane; all that permafrost in siberia covers a lot of organic matter, if that all gets exposed too quickly for a bog ecosystem to establish, what happens?

Answer 1

Canada also has a lot of methane and methane hydrate, not as much as Russia, but a lot.

Every warm period that precedes an ice age has had a partial release of methane from those bog areas. This is in my view likely to occur no matter what we do about curbing emissions. It will also be of greater importance to global warming than the accumulated CO2 in the atmosphere.

High volumes of methane in a local area could snuff out all animal life in that area. (It happens periodically around an African lake).

Globally that is not a likely outcome, but if we could avoid it it would make sense to do so.

Life would return to normal unless our temperature rises too high. It is almost certain that in the far north temperatures will not rise high enough to extinguish life, so that there would bd a remnant left to repopulate the hotter areas of earth.

A tipping point basically is represented by a condition becoming self sustaining and is not described by some event like melting of an ice sheet.

Because water vapor is so significant to global warming, we see that as temperature rises it can trigger a growth of atmospheric water vapor that then sustains that temperature rise, even without the aid of man made GH gases.

No, water vapor in the atmosphere does not of itself lead to increased cloud cover if temperature is rising. Rather, rising temperature  reduces cloud cover, and builds more water vapor below a cloudless sky. When clouds do form, they quickly drop a lot of water and leave the heat of evaporation in the atmosphere to inhibit cloud formation.

Only when we have some event that starts us into a cooling phase will we see a major increase in cloud cover, and with cloud cover, rapid cooling. That is the other tipping point.

Answer 2

I don't think the Greenland ice sheet is doomed just yet, but we're approaching that point.

I agree that the methane currently trapped under permafrost is one of the biggest worries.  Siberian permafrost has already begun to melt

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/20...

And if the bogs remain wet, as is currently the case, the carbon will be released in the form of methane.  Not good.

Answer 3

I have a friend who recently flew over Greenland, he says the ice sheet is still there.

As for the Amazon, all the ice there has already melted.

As for mindless hysteria, does anybody not understand that?

Answer 4

.023% of the atmosphere is CO2... lmao... You people can be so stupid... 1 particle per million more isn't going to create the end of the world.

ALSO, the optimum temp. for life is 70F..... We need to be 11F higher to reach that temp..... And that would really make the Earth GREEN! (Worldwide Rainforest)

Answer 5

Allow me to ease your mind, then. Methane breaks down into water and CO2 in the presence of sunlight. And CO2 CAN be taken back up by algae, diatoms, grass, or even trees! The world has existed long before humanity came along, and has dealt with far worse pollutants than oxygen and carbon dioxide. A static environment would be a DEAD environment.  Do what you can about the things you can do something about. But have the wisdom to know when you can't.

Answer 6

So if the Greenland ice sheet is a tipping point i wonder why warming didn't spiral out of control the last time Greenland was warm. ( midieval warming period ) It seems to me that what i heard is that after that the earth cooled down a little bit again. ( mini ice age ) And now it is just warming back up again to what can be argued to be a more " normal " temperature. Whatever that is.

Answer 7

Whatever it is it surely won't be good. If I were to take a guess probably more rapid global warming then even more than we have already seen of melting, higher coast lines, flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, heat waves, strange and abhorrent weather, drought, famine, desertification, opening Arctic shipping lanes, drilling in the arctic, etc. Need I come up with more?

I am positive we will all see drastic changes in our lifetimes. It is too bad there are those out there try to sow disinformation and doubt for nefarious reasons. We need all work together with no time to spare to solve this very serious problem.

Answer 8

Global warming     Something that keeps army's of smart folk busy trying to stop it. 'It' being bigger then all of the Human Race and 'It' removing the Human Race to make room for the next top of the food chain

Answer 9

Don't forget the Antarctic ice cap is melting also.  Whole complex ecosystems that have been hidden under the ice for millennia are being exposed and are expected to rapidly perish.  I doubt the amount of methane (not to mention ammonia) could even be estimated.