logo

Video encyclopedia

Abrupt climate change

2:49

Faster than Forecast: the story ice tells about abrupt climate change

0:36

Abrupt climate change now!

1:19

Abrupt Climate Change

1:52

Abrupt climate change rant.

2:30

Abrupt Climate Change is Happening NOW!

An abrupt climate change occurs when the climate system is forced to transition to a new climate state at a rate that is determined by the climate system energy-balance, and which is more rapid than the rate of change of the external forcing. Past events include the end of the Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse, Younger Dryas, Dansgaard-Oeschger events, Heinrich events and possibly also the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum. The term is also used within the context of global warming to describe sudden climate change that is detectable over the time-scale of a human lifetime. One proposed cause of such events is feedback loops within the climate system both enhance small perturbations and cause a variety of stable states.