Climate tipping points of coral die-off, ice sheet collapse closer than thought
LONDON, Sept 8 (Reuters) — When might the world’s bleaching coral reefs pass the point of no return? When would warming temperatures cause the Greenland Ice Sheet to collapse and trigger severe sea level rise? These worrying scenarios could happen sooner than expected, according to new scientific research.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate science
What began as a theory in the 1890s — that industrial emissions of carbon dioxide could increase global temperatures — had progressed to a scientific fact a century later. Scientists across a range of disciplines are studying the impact of the still-growing concentration of carbon dioxide and other so-called “greenhouse gases” in the atmosphere as they call for industrial and governmental policies to slow, then halt, the warming of the planet.