Tag

Earth System

All articles tagged with #earth system

environment2 years ago•5 min saved

"Urgent Action Needed: Climate Tipping Points Pose Catastrophic Risks"

A new report warns that climate tipping points, where self-sustaining changes occur, are closer than previously thought. The report identifies over 25 tipping points in the Earth system, including the collapse of ice sheets, degradation of ecosystems, and disruption of ocean and atmospheric circulation. Human activities are already pushing some of these tipping points close, with coral reef loss becoming likely at 1.2°C of global warming. Economic assessments of climate change largely ignore tipping point risks. Urgent action is needed to cut greenhouse gas emissions, reduce habitat loss and pollution, and update governance approaches to address these risks.

via The Conversation Indonesia|

#climate-change #cop28 #earth-system

environment2 years ago•3 min saved

Impending Chaos: Physicists Warn Earth's Fate Hangs in the Balance

Physicists have warned that human activity could push the Earth system into a state of unpredictable chaos, from which there may be no return. Using a theory originally developed to model superconductivity, researchers demonstrated that beyond a certain point, it may not be possible to restore equilibrium to Earth's climate. The study suggests that a finite amount of human activity could lead to a Hothouse Earth scenario, characterized by extreme weather events and seasonal fluctuations that make it impossible to predict or mitigate future climate behavior. While this outcome is not inevitable, it highlights the need to consider it as a real possibility for designing strategies to address climate change and manage the Earth system in the future.

via ScienceAlert|

#anthropocene #chaos-theory #climate-change

environment2 years ago•3 min saved

Physicists Warn of Earth's Impending Chaos

Physicists have used a theory developed to model superconductivity to show that human activity could push the Earth system into unpredictable chaos from which there is no return. The researchers used a logistic map to map the possible outcomes of the Anthropocene phase transition based on temperature, starting at a Holocene equilibrium point. Their results showed that the Earth's system could evolve into chaotic behavior, making it impossible to mitigate and claw back to a stable climate. The researchers say we need to consider this a real possibility for designing strategies to mitigate climate change and manage the Earth system in the future.

via ScienceAlert|

#anthropocene #chaos #climate-change

science2 years ago•3 min saved

"MIT researchers explore ecogenesis through deep time analysis."

Greg Fournier, an associate professor of geobiology at MIT, studies living systems that developed billions of years ago. His research team developed a new technique to analyze genes, tracing living species of cyanobacteria back to a common ancestor that evolved about 2.9 billion years ago, and demonstrating that the ancestors of cyanobacteria branched off from other bacteria around 3.4 billion years ago. By understanding Earth’s processes at the time when life first appeared, Fournier says we can better understand how life could begin on other planets.

via MIT News|

#earth-system #evolution #genomics