A recent paper by mathematicians at the University of Exeter in England, and University College Cork in Ireland, highlights the dangers of tipping points in systems that are being rapidly changed by humankind.
It is now widely understood that tipping points can occur when thresholds are crossed, such as the degree of global warming.
The new study instead highlights the dangers associated with rate-induced tipping, which is triggered not by a critical level of change but instead by how quickly that level is reached.
Once triggered, tipping points may lead to abrupt changes in natural and human systems including the reorganisation of large ocean circulation currents, extinction of ecosystem populations and blackouts on power grid networks.
Read more at: University of Exeter
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