Recently, I came across some fascinating, if not alarming, climate research in a piece by Natalie Wolchover at Quanta Magazine. In Wolchover’s story, we learn how extremely high levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide could lead to cloud loss and a catastrophic tipping point in Earth’s climate. Needless to say, these findings have caught the attention of journalists, scientists and activists concerned with climate science. Let’s investigate.
| Climate change threatens our clouds. |
By studying our planet’s history from about 56 million years ago — a geological period know as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) — and using advanced computer simulations to model climate, climate scientists discovered that when carbon dioxide levels reach 1,200 ppm, low-lying clouds disappear.
They published the study results in the journal Nature Geoscience in February 2019. Because clouds help cool Earth by reflecting heat toward space, the resulting cloud loss could trigger a catastrophic tipping point, raising temperatures 8°C (14.4°F). That’s in addition to the 4°C (7.2°F) or more of warming that would stem from the high carbon dioxide levels alone.
Read the Medium story by Laura Routh - “High CO₂ Levels Could Lead to Cloud Loss and a Catastrophic Tipping Point.”
No comments:
Post a Comment