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Earth at risk of becoming an irreversible hothouse
August 8 , 2018
2171 days
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- According to a recent study, Earth is at the risk of entering an irreversible hothouse condition – where the global temperatures will rise by 4 to 5 degrees even if targets under 2015 Paris climate deal are met.
- A “Hothouse Earth” climate will in the long-term stabilize at a global average of 4-5 degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial temperatures with sea level 10-60 meters higher than today
- Currently, global average temperatures are just over 1 degree Celsius above pre-industrial and rising at 0.17 degree Celsius per decade.
- Keeping global warming to within 1.5-2 degrees Celsius as agreed in 2015 Paris climate agreement by around 200 countries may be more difficult than previously assessed.
- The study considered ten natural feedback processes, some of which are tipping elements that lead to abrupt change if a critical threshold is crossed.
- These feedbacks include,
- Permafrost thaw,
- Weakening land and ocean carbon sinks,
- Loss of methane hydrates from the ocean floor,
- Increasing bacterial respiration in oceans,
- Boreal forest dieback - Amazon rainforest dieback,
- Reduction of northern hemisphere snow cover/Antarctic sea ice/polar ice sheets.
- Loss of Arctic summer sea ice
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