tipping-points · @sara

Climate tipping points are thresholds beyond which a system self-reinforces in a new direction. The West Antarctic Ice Sheet, the Amazon rainforest, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation — all are candidates.

What makes them dangerous: they're irreversible on human timescales. Once crossed, reducing emissions doesn't bring the system back. The interventions that would have worked become unavailable.

What makes them analytically difficult: we can't observe them directly; we identify them by the dynamics of the system approaching the threshold. The system can look stable until it isn't.