Kubiszewski, Ida;
Adams, Vanessa M;
Baird, Rachel;
Boothroyd, Anne;
Costanza, Robert;
Macdonald, Darla Hatton;
Finau, Glenn;
... Yamazaki, Satoshi; + view all
(2025)
Cascading tipping points of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.
Ambio
, 54
(4)
pp. 642-659.
10.1007/s13280-024-02101-9.
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Abstract
Antarctica and the Southern Ocean are key elements in the physical and biological Earth system. Human-induced climate change, and other human activities in the region, are leading to several potential interacting tipping points with major and irreversible consequences. Here, we examine eight potential physical, biological, chemical, and social Antarctic tipping points. These include ice sheets, ocean acidification, ocean circulation, species redistribution, invasive species, permafrost melting, local pollution, and the Antarctic Treaty System. We discuss the nature of each potential tipping point, its control variables, thresholds, timescales, and impacts, and focus on the potential for cumulative and cascading effects as a result of their interactions. The analysis provides substantial evidence of the need for more concerted and rapid action to limit climate change and to minimise the impacts of local human activities to avoid these cascading tipping points.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Cascading tipping points of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean |
| Location: | Sweden |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s13280-024-02101-9 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-024-02101-9 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Science & Technology, Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Engineering, Environmental, Environmental Sciences, Engineering, Environmental Sciences & Ecology, Antarctic treaty system, Earth system, Ecosystem services, Interacting tipping points, Ocean circulation, Sea ice, ICE-SHEET, CLIMATE-CHANGE, BIOLOGICAL INVASIONS, SEA-ICE, FUTURE, IMPACTS, COLLAPSE, ACIDIFICATION, CIRCULATION, MANAGEMENT |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > UCL Institute for Global Prosperity |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10213161 |
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