Climatic Security and the Tipping Point Conception of the Earth System

2012 ◽  
pp. 33-62
Author(s):  
Chris Russill
Keyword(s):  
Tipping Point ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Point Conception ◽  
The Earth

Tipping Points in the Anthropocene: Crafting a Just and Sustainable Earth

2017 ◽  
Vol 04 (01) ◽  
pp. 1750004 ◽  
Author(s):  
David C. Eisenhauer
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Sustainability Science ◽  
Modern Science ◽  
Tipping Point ◽  
Tipping Points ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Critical Thresholds ◽  
The Earth

The arrival of the Anthropocene entails an evolutionary tipping point that challenges basic precepts of political theory and modern science. Within this paper, emerging scholarship in political science, science and technology studies, and sustainability science are brought together to sketch out an approach for crafting more just and sustainable pathways in response to the crossing of critical thresholds in the Earth system. Accomplishing this task requires responding to the emerging reality of possibility, irreversibility, entanglement, and novelty that the Anthropocene and tipping points entail. I argue that grounding political projects in recognition of the unfolding and unpredictable terrain tipping points present allows for the opening of novel pathways toward a still possible just and sustainable planet.

scholarly journals Tipping Points in the Earth System

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Mackie
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Early Warning Systems ◽  
Tipping Point ◽  
Critical Threshold ◽  
Tipping Points ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Warning Systems ◽  
Cumulative Impact ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Small Change

There is mounting evidence that some parts of the Earth system may be at risk of abrupt and potentially irreversible changes, driven by the cumulative impact of incremental global warming. Such a non-linear transition could be triggered if a critical threshold in global temperature – a “tipping point” – is crossed, when a small change could push a system into a completely new state, with potentially catastrophic impacts. In this technical briefing, we will first define tipping points and tipping elements, then explore several tipping elements in more detail and discuss the questions of abruptness, irreversibility, timescales and uncertainties for each of them. We also investigate the possibility of developing early warning systems for tipping points, and the risk of cascades of interacting tipping points, where one tipping point could trigger another.

scholarly journals The question of the human in the Anthropocene debate

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Chernilo
Keyword(s):  
Natural Resources ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Tipping Point ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Main Argument ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Two Stages

The Anthropocene debate is one of the most ambitious scientific programmes of the past 15 or 20 years. Its main argument is that, from a geological point of view, humans are considered a major force of nature, thus implying that our current geological epoch is dominated by human activity. The Anthropocene has slowly become a contemporary meta-narrative that seeks to make sense of the ‘earth-system’ as a whole, and one whose vision of the future is dystopian rather than progressive: as the exploitation of the planet’s natural resources reaches tipping point, the very prospects of the continuity of human life are being questioned. This article aims to explore the implicit notions of the human – indeed of the anthropos – that are being mobilized in the Anthropocene debate. It will proceed in two stages: first, the article will spell out the main arguments of the Anthropocene debate with a particular focus on trying to unpack its implicit ideas of the human. Second, it will use my approach to philosophical sociology to highlight some of the limitations and contradictions of the ideas of agency, reflexivity and responsibility that underpin the Anthropocene debate.

Editorial: Fire in the Earth System

PAGES news ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cathy Whitlock ◽  
Willy Tinner
Keyword(s):  
Earth System ◽  
The Earth

SPIES AND BLOGGERS: NEW SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY TOOLS TO UNDERSTAND MICROBIAL PROCESSES IN THE EARTH SYSTEM

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline A. Masiello ◽  
◽  
Jonathan J. Silberg ◽  
Hsiao-Ying Cheng ◽  
Ilenne Del Valle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Synthetic Biology ◽  
Microbial Processes ◽  
Earth System ◽  
The Earth

scholarly journals High and specific diversity of protists in the deep-sea basins dominated by diplonemids, kinetoplastids, ciliates and foraminiferans

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Schoenle ◽  
Manon Hohlfeld ◽  
Karoline Hermanns ◽  
Frédéric Mahé ◽  
Colomban de Vargas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Cycling ◽  
Deep Sea ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Parasitic Species ◽  
Unicellular Eukaryotes ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Dna Metabarcoding ◽  
Global Carbon ◽  
Pelagic Communities

AbstractHeterotrophic protists (unicellular eukaryotes) form a major link from bacteria and algae to higher trophic levels in the sunlit ocean. Their role on the deep seafloor, however, is only fragmentarily understood, despite their potential key function for global carbon cycling. Using the approach of combined DNA metabarcoding and cultivation-based surveys of 11 deep-sea regions, we show that protist communities, mostly overlooked in current deep-sea foodweb models, are highly specific, locally diverse and have little overlap to pelagic communities. Besides traditionally considered foraminiferans, tiny protists including diplonemids, kinetoplastids and ciliates were genetically highly diverse considerably exceeding the diversity of metazoans. Deep-sea protists, including many parasitic species, represent thus one of the most diverse biodiversity compartments of the Earth system, forming an essential link to metazoans.

scholarly journals Applicability of NGGM near-real time simulations in flood detection

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-126
Author(s):  
A. F. Purkhauser ◽  
J. A. Koch ◽  
R. Pail
Keyword(s):  
European Space Agency ◽  
Earth System ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Future Mission ◽  
Space Agency ◽  
Flood Detection ◽  
The One ◽  
Real Time Simulations ◽  
Grace Mission ◽  
Gravity Mission

Abstract The GRACE mission has demonstrated a tremendous potential for observing mass changes in the Earth system from space for climate research and the observation of climate change. Future mission should on the one hand extend the already existing time series and also provide higher spatial and temporal resolution that is required to fulfil all needs placed on a future mission. To analyse the applicability of such a Next Generation Gravity Mission (NGGM) concept regarding hydrological applications, two GRACE-FO-type pairs in Bender formation are analysed. The numerical closed loop simulations with a realistic noise assumption are based on the short arc approach and make use of the Wiese approach, enabling a self-de-aliasing of high-frequency atmospheric and oceanic signals, and a NRT approach for a short latency. Numerical simulations for future gravity mission concepts are based on geophysical models, representing the time-variable gravity field. First tests regarding the usability of the hydrology component contained in the Earth System Model (ESM) by the European Space Agency (ESA) for the analysis regarding a possible flood monitoring and detection showed a clear signal in a third of the analysed flood cases. Our analysis of selected cases found that detection of floods was clearly possible with the reconstructed AOHIS/HIS signal in 20% of the tested examples, while in 40% of the cases a peak was visible but not clearly recognisable.

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