Abstract
Since the onset of the industrial age in the 18th century and accelerating since the mid 1980s, the release of more than 560 billion ton of carbon (GtC) through industrial emission and land clearing has triggered unprecedented developments in the terrestrial climate at a rate faster by an order of magnitude than natural geological warming events. Whereas comparisons can be made with the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum of ~55 Ma, the scale and rate of modern global warming may compare more closely with those triggered by major volcanic and asteroid impact events. The non-linear nature of current climate change, multiple feedbacks and their synergy are driving the climate to uncharted territory and possible tipping points.
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Notes
- 1.
1 Sverdrup = one million cubic meters of water flow per second.
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Glikson, A.Y. (2014). An Uncharted Climate Territory. In: Evolution of the Atmosphere, Fire and the Anthropocene Climate Event Horizon. SpringerBriefs in Earth Sciences. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7332-5_9
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