Climate tipping
2016
Using in a simple way the theory of non linear dynamical systems, we show that increasing climatic instabilities may be a qualitative warning sign for the occurrence of a nearby bifurcation, yielding a discontinuous and sudden climate tipping towards an unknown and unpredictable state. The possibility of an accurate prediction of the occurrence time of such a transition is also discussed in terms of the approach of a critical point.
http://arxiv.org/abs/1609.05098
The image shows time evolution dZ/dt of atmosphere temperature Z vs Z. Different curves correspond to different green house gases (GHG) concentrations. The blue curve exhibits a "cold" attractor A1 on the left. For a critical GHG concentration (red curve) the cold attractor disappears (bifurcation B), and the system tips onto a red (hot) attractor A2 on the right. Such a tipping is hardly reversible.
