Some tipping points that will cause vast quantities of polar ice to reach the ocean have already been passed, a top climate scientist says.
Dr Ricarda Winkelmann, of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, also said the loss of “potentially unstable” ice regions in Antarctica alone could raise sea levels by 20 metres.
Speaking at the James Lovelock Centenary conference, organised by the University of Exeter’s Global Systems Institute, she said she hoped the rapid change already taking place in the Arctic and Antarctica could serve as an “early warning system”.
This could lead to “societal tipping points” after which human attitudes and actions change for the better, she said.
Read more at University of Exeter
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