'Calm before storm' may foreshadow climatic tipping point
Wednesday, September 17, 2008 - 10:35
in Earth & Climate
(PhysOrg.com) -- Abrupt climate change has occurred on earth many times over the past millions of years. Climate scientists hypothesize that these sharp transitions may be caused when the earth system reaches a tipping point, or a critical value, resulting in a change of several degrees. These abrupt transitions have caused, for example, the formation and melting of glaciers throughout the earth, North Africa`s change from savannah to desert 5,000 years ago, and various other changes.