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Abrupt climate change in the Arctic

Nature Climate Change volume 2, pages 60–62 (2012)Cite this article

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Semantic arguments about the definition of 'tipping points' are distracting attention away from the causes and impacts of climate change in the Arctic.

In 1992, the United Nations established the Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) with the aim of “preventing dangerous anthropogenic interference with Earth's climate system”. Two decades later we are confronted with arguably the first signs of dangerous climate change in the Arctic region. Dangerous climate change was defined implicitly by the UNFCCC as that precluding ecosystem adaption, jeopardizing food production or preventing sustainable development. In the Arctic, the rate of climate change is now faster than ecosystems can adapt to naturally1, and Inuit communities are experiencing compromised food security and health, and threats to traditional cultural activities2. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change lists five main concerns related to dangerous climate change, all of which are now being experienced in the Arctic (Table 1).

Table 1 Evidence for the presence of all five reasons for concern that characterize dangerous climate change12 in the Arctic region.
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Figure 1: Arctic climate change.

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Acknowledgements

This is a contribution to the Arctic Tipping Points project (www.eu-atp.org) funded by FP7 of the European Union (contract #226248).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Global Change Research Department, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados, Miquel Marqués 21, Esporles, 07190, Mallorca, Spain

    Carlos M. Duarte

  2. UWA Oceans Institute, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Western Australia, 6009, Crawley, Australia

    Carlos M. Duarte

  3. College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter, Hatherly Laboratories, Prince of Wales Road, EX4 4PS, Exeter, UK

    Timothy M. Lenton

  4. Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Wilberforce Road, CB3 0WA, Cambridge, UK

    Peter Wadhams

  5. Institute of Arctic and Marine Biology, Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economy, University of Tromsø, 9037, Tromsø, Norway

    Paul Wassmann

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  1. Carlos M. Duarte
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  2. Timothy M. Lenton
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  3. Peter Wadhams
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  4. Paul Wassmann
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Correspondence to Paul Wassmann.

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Duarte, C., Lenton, T., Wadhams, P. et al. Abrupt climate change in the Arctic. Nature Clim Change 2, 60–62 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate1386

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