Substantial Risk of 21st Century AMOC Tipping even under Moderate Climate Change

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: van Westen, René M., Vanderborght, Elian Y. P., Kliphuis, Michael, Dijkstra, Henk A.
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2024
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author van Westen, René M.
Vanderborght, Elian Y. P.
Kliphuis, Michael
Dijkstra, Henk A.
author_facet van Westen, René M.
Vanderborght, Elian Y. P.
Kliphuis, Michael
Dijkstra, Henk A.
contents The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is a key component of the climate system and considered to be a tipping element. There is still a large uncertainty on the critical global warming level at which the AMOC will start to collapse. Here we analyse targeted climate model simulations, together with observations, reanalysis products and a suite of state-of-the-art climate model results to reassess this critical global warming level. We find a critical threshold of +3C global mean surface temperature increase compared to pre-industrial with a lower bound of +2.2C (10%-Cl). Such global mean surface temperature anomalies are expected to be reached after 2050. This means that the AMOC is more likely than not (> 50%) to tip within the 21st century under a middle-of-the-road climate change scenario and very likely (> 90%) to tip under a high emissions scenario. The AMOC collapse induced cooling is shown to be offset by the regional warming over Northwestern Europe during the 21st century, but will still induce severe impacts on society.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2407_19909
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Substantial Risk of 21st Century AMOC Tipping even under Moderate Climate Change
van Westen, René M.
Vanderborght, Elian Y. P.
Kliphuis, Michael
Dijkstra, Henk A.
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is a key component of the climate system and considered to be a tipping element. There is still a large uncertainty on the critical global warming level at which the AMOC will start to collapse. Here we analyse targeted climate model simulations, together with observations, reanalysis products and a suite of state-of-the-art climate model results to reassess this critical global warming level. We find a critical threshold of +3C global mean surface temperature increase compared to pre-industrial with a lower bound of +2.2C (10%-Cl). Such global mean surface temperature anomalies are expected to be reached after 2050. This means that the AMOC is more likely than not (> 50%) to tip within the 21st century under a middle-of-the-road climate change scenario and very likely (> 90%) to tip under a high emissions scenario. The AMOC collapse induced cooling is shown to be offset by the regional warming over Northwestern Europe during the 21st century, but will still induce severe impacts on society.
title Substantial Risk of 21st Century AMOC Tipping even under Moderate Climate Change
topic Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.19909