Nearly 30 dangerous feedback loops could permanently shift the Earth's climate, scientists say [View all]

[NickB79]

Last edited Tue Feb 21, 2023, 08:19 PM - Edit history (1)

A group of international scientists from institutions including Oregon State University, Exeter University and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, pored over climate literature to identify 41 climate feedback loops. Of these, they found that 27 are driving up global temperatures, according to the study published Friday in the scientific journal One Earth, while just seven are helping to slow the pace of climate crisis.

William Ripple, Professor of Ecology at Oregon State University and a lead author on the study, told CNN that forest die-off, smoldering peatlands and thawing permafrost were particularly worrisome.

“These feedbacks may be large and are difficult to accurately quantify,” Ripple told CNN.

The researchers were surprised by the large number of amplifying climate feedback loops they found, he added.

“To the best of our knowledge, this is the most extensive list available of climate feedback loops, and not all of them are fully considered in climate models,” Christopher Wolf, a postdoctoral scholar at Oregon State University and the study’s other lead author, said in a statement.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/02/17/world/climate-feedback-loops-tipping-points-arctic-ice-intl/index.html

Every time I see someone say that the best models "only" show 3C of warming by 2100, instead of the worst-case 4-6C level of warming, I think of stuff like this.