penguins floating on ice

Celebrate: We’ve Finally Hit an “Irreversible” Climate Tipping Point

Guest essay by Eric Worrall

According to Professor Markus Rex, we have finally crossed the line – though years of well funded research are required to confirm that we have messed up the planet.

Scientists fear global warming has already passed an irreversible ‘tipping point’

The scientist who led the biggest-ever expedition to the Arctic has warned global warming may have already passed an irreversible tipping point.

The tipping point for irreversible global warming may have already been triggered, the scientist who led the biggest-ever expedition to the Arctic has warned.

“The disappearance of summer sea ice in the Arctic is one of the first landmines in this minefield, one of the tipping points that we set off first when we push warming too far,” said Professor Markus Rex.

“And one can essentially ask if we haven’t already stepped on this mine and already set off the beginning of the explosion.”

Professor Rex led the world’s biggest mission to the North Pole, an expedition involving 300 scientists from 20 countries.

“Only evaluation in the coming years will allow us to determine if we can still save the year-round Arctic sea ice through forceful climate protection or whether we have already passed this important tipping point in the climate system,” Professor Rex added, urging rapid action to halt warming.

Stefanie Arndt, who specialises in sea ice physics, said it was “painful to know that we are possibly the last generation who can experience an Arctic which still has a sea ice cover in the summer”.

Read more: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/scientists-fear-global-warming-has-already-passed-an-irreversible-tipping-point

I’ve experienced arctic ice, I once spent a few days in Bodø. It was cold. The Maelstrom at Saltstraumen was pretty, and the snow capped mountains were glorious. Lots of pretty Scandinavians. There were some odd things for sale in the shops. One of the towns in Bodø municipality would make a great place for a party, if the ice actually melts away, and if you are someone who doesn’t mind if things get a bit weird. But lets just say I’m not exactly rushing to book my ticket.

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Notanacademic
June 16, 2021 11:27 am

The Bowhead whales seem to like the Arctic this side of the tipping point. I thought whales were supposed to be intelligent do they not realise we and them are doomed.

bluecat57
June 16, 2021 11:36 am

Again?
Kinda loses its impact after the first 3 times

rah
June 16, 2021 11:58 am

Woulda, shoulda, coulda! I which these “scientists” would get get some help for their phobias and neurosis. The constant raving of lunatics gets tiresome for the sane.

Nils Rømcke
June 16, 2021 12:03 pm

“may have” . . . .

michael hart
June 16, 2021 12:04 pm

“Stefanie Arndt, who specialises in sea ice physics, said it was “painful to know that we are possibly the last generation who can experience an Arctic which still has a sea ice cover in the summer”.

Well I, for one, will spend my life savings to experience Stefanie Arndt go swimming in the last bit of the Arctic Ocean with sea ice cover.

Reply to  michael hart
June 16, 2021 3:01 pm

I never experienced Arctic sea ice cover, and I certainly never will, independent if there is ice or not. I swear to have no pain at all.

Reply to  michael hart
June 17, 2021 10:09 am

At first, like Stefanie, I was very concerned too.

But then I realized that I could just take my grand kids up there in the spring to experience the sea ice cover; and their lives would not be deficient and sad ….

Then I painfully realized that I don’t have the resources to take the kids there anyway.

Then I realized that experiencing sea ice in the summer is pretty low on most kids lists, and even if I offered, they would have something better to do and wouldn’t want to go (so then some of the my pain dissipated)

Then I realized that if Stefanie really got her way, only the likes of Bill Gates and his friends would have the resources to go experience the arctic sea ice the summer.

Then I realized that Stefanie Arndt (who specializes in sea ice physics) is a selfish manipulative (& likely lying) piece of crap.

June 16, 2021 12:52 pm

“The abundance of information will feed into the development of models”

Can’t wait…

June 16, 2021 12:58 pm

Does he mean the tipping point where temperatures stop going higher (-:

https://neomvisions.com/uah-global-temperature-update-for-may-2021-0-08-deg-c/

Maybe he means the GREENING tipping point. We are greening the planet to death (-:

https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/69258/

Reply to  Mike Maguire
June 16, 2021 1:41 pm

the only greening is the greening of his institutional grant account.

June 16, 2021 1:06 pm

The money statement from this rent seeker:

Only evaluation in the coming years will allow us to determine if we can still save the year-round Arctic sea ice…”

This animated giff should be an embedded image in Professor Rex’s online paper:

3kLj.gif
whiten
June 16, 2021 1:14 pm

Once a champ in Rex thingy, always a Rex champ… forevah… and evah.

No one evah has come back from ugly.

June 16, 2021 1:28 pm

Call his bluff. If he’s certain that a ‘tipping point’ has been passed then there is no need for anymore grants and research. In fact all Climate Science has been settled for some time so what are they studying?

Kevin
June 16, 2021 1:29 pm

Was this one of the Arctic expeditions that was trapped in the ice and had to be rescued by an icebreaker?

Neo
June 16, 2021 1:35 pm

Maybe we can now get about living, now that we know we are dying.

June 16, 2021 1:36 pm

Wasn’t that the research they needed several extra ice breaker to free the ship and an ice breaker because of to much to thick ice ?

Rob Duncan
June 16, 2021 1:48 pm

The thing that scares me is an Aussie saying things can get weird and party in the same sentence. That would be an 11 on my weird scale.

June 16, 2021 2:14 pm

“MAY”. nOT REALLY CERTAIN.

rwisrael
June 16, 2021 2:48 pm

I guess when it really happens , “science” will know about. Until then, it’s just another ugly rumor.

Art
June 16, 2021 2:54 pm

“…may have already passed an irreversible tipping point.”

“MAY have”. Weasel word. He knows it’s BS.

Yes real science uses words like “may” or “indicates” or “suggests” because real science is never 100% certain. But this is intended to scare us that the end is nigh, and he doesn’t want his own words coming back to haunt him.

Jones
June 16, 2021 3:09 pm

we have finally crossed the line”.

Thank God for that, I thought we’d never get there.

This being the case can we now just carry on as we are then since it’s too late?

June 16, 2021 3:56 pm

““painful to know that we are possibly the last generation who can experience an Arctic which still has a sea ice cover in the summer”.

Add this to the Viner, Wadhams, Gore collection. “When will they ever learn….

June 16, 2021 3:59 pm

David Attenborough’s latest science fiction, “Breaking Boundaries”, is loaded with tipping points.

WR2
June 16, 2021 4:03 pm

After speaking to her handlers, it turns out what she meant to say is: “Well, actually we probably haven’t yet reached the tipping point, we still have maybe 3…nah, let’s say 5 years to act. Send money.”

Steve Z
June 16, 2021 4:15 pm

Climate averages for Barrow, Alaska:

Month Temp(max/min, F) Precip, in Snow, in
January -7/-19 0.13 3
February -8/-20 0.14 3
March -6/-19 0.09 2
April +8/-5 0.16 3
May 26/17 0.18 3
June 40/31 0.32 1
July 47/35 0.98 0
August 44/34 1.05 1
September 36/29 0.72 4
October 22/13 0.41 9
November 6/-5 0.21 6
December -2/-14 0.24 4

This is the northernmost point in the United States, on the shore of the Arctic Ocean.

Air temperatures remain below freezing from October through most of May, so that Arctic sea ice near Barrow will likely start to melt in June, after which total precipitation (water equivalent) skyrockets in July through September, as the open water promotes evaporation, formation of clouds, and rain or snow along the coast.

It should be noted that snowfall reaches a maximum in October, when temperatures are generally below freezing, but some of the coastal water has not yet re-frozen, where cold winds blowing across the open water can pick up moisture and drop it on nearby land as snow (similar to the lake-effect snow south and east of the Great Lakes in late November and December). In Barrow, once the Arctic re-freezes, there is less evaporation and less snowfall in winter than in autumn.

It should be noted that summer temperatures in Barrow don’t rise much above freezing, with a “sea breeze” off the Arctic limiting the temperature rise on sunny days. This does not occur in inland Fairbanks, Alaska (a few hundred miles to the south) where daily maximum temperatures are above 60 F in May through August, and above 70 F in June and July, despite much higher precipitation in Fairbanks than in Barrow.

So what would happen if the Arctic ice melted earlier in spring and/or froze later in autumn? The additional open water would result in higher evaporation and precipitation rates over a longer period during summer, and the period of high snowfall (due to open water) would be shifted later into the autumn. But the higher evaporation rates would also result in more cloud formation, which would limit any warming from the summer sun.

Yes, open water has a lower albedo than ice, but it tends to increase evaporation and cloud formation, and clouds have a higher albedo than open water under a sunny sky!

June 16, 2021 4:19 pm

Wait just a minute . . . there are these quotes given in the article (my underlining emphasis added):

“The scientist who led the biggest-ever expedition to the Arctic has warned global warming may have already passed an irreversible tipping point.

The tipping point for irreversible global warming may have already been triggered, the scientist who led the biggest-ever expedition to the Arctic has warned. 

. . .

“Only evaluation in the coming years will allow us to determine if we can still save the year-round Arctic sea ice through forceful climate protection or whether we have already passed this important tipping point in the climate system,” Professor Rex added, urging rapid action to halt warming.

Stefanie Arndt, who specialises in sea ice physics, said it was ‘painful to know that we are possibly the last generation who can experience an Arctic which still has a sea ice cover in the summer’ “.

My objective (I hope) reading of these quotes DOES NOT lead me to the conclusion Eric states in both the title of his above article and its very first sentence.

Please, WUWT, let’s not resort to the same tactics that are frequently used by the “dark side” in the ongoing debate over “climate change”.

BallBounces
June 16, 2021 4:27 pm

Giant gas-driven ice-making machines in the Arctic is the obvious answer.

Carlo, Monte
Reply to  BallBounces
June 16, 2021 4:42 pm

Works for ski areas.

observa
June 16, 2021 4:30 pm

Wrong perfessor! We’ve simply entered the Green Vortex and we’re all saved-
The ‘Green Vortex’ Is Saving America’s Climate Future (msn.com)