About That Arctic Tipping Point

Charles Rotter A new paper published this week in CTiommunications Earth & Environment reports that the Arctic Ocean crossed an irreversible chemical tipping point in 2009. The lead institution is the University of Edinburgh, the lead author is Professor Raja Ganeshram of the School of GeoSciences, and the press coverage has been the kind of coverage you would expect. Sample headlines: “Arctic Ocean passed a tipping point and scientists say it may never recover” (ScienceDaily). “Has Arctic h...

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11 Comments

Scissor

May 31, 2026 6:03 am

Like it never recovered before?

Check spelling of “CTiommunications.”

Denis

May 31, 2026 6:20 am

For the majority of the Earth’s existence, there has been no ice at the poles. How did we ever evolve? How can we possibly exist? More proof that there is no life on Earth; we are just a computer simulation?

ToldYouSo

Reply to Denis

May 31, 2026 9:46 am

More likely, already embedded in The Matrix and just not aware of it . . . look for that red pill.

Ric Werme

Editor

May 31, 2026 6:36 am

Ah, I remember the good ol’ days when there was just the one tipping point. See Hansen’s 2008 readable description at https://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/2008/StateOfWild_20080428.pdf

He noted:

Our home planet is dangerously near a tipping point at which human-made greenhouse gases reach a level where major climate changes can proceed mostly under their own momentum. Warming will shift climatic zones by intensifying the hydrologic cycle, affecting freshwater availability and human health. We will see repeated coastal tragedies associated with storms and continuously rising sea levels. The implications are profound, and the only resolution is for humans to move to a fundamentally different energy pathway within a decade.

Sigh, missed that 2018 deadline. As well, life as we knew it was great. Too bad about the polar bears….

Gunga Din

Reply to Ric Werme

May 31, 2026 9:36 am

Maybe instead of calling them “Tipping Points”, they should call them “Tipsy Points”?
When you’re under the influence of too much CO2, your perception of reality becomes a bit skewed.
(Just ask Greta.)

max

May 31, 2026 7:13 am

I’ll say this, sight unseen. If it takes 17 years to see the results of a “tipping point” being crossed, that’s like saying an overweight celebrity got a flesh eating bacteria, and only has 13 years to live. It’s ludicrous. Either it wasn’t a “tipping point”, or nothing has happened because of it. Skepticism is truly warranted.

terry

May 31, 2026 7:19 am

Irreparable? Yipee…… We can go back to really living again.

Petey Bird

May 31, 2026 7:27 am

“it may never recover” also implies may recover. I don’t know if I have time to read more nonsensical speculation.

John Hultquist

May 31, 2026 8:27 am

Then:
“The phytoplankton were blooming. The carbon sink was strengthening.”
Now:
“Carbon sink weakening”
And:
” from a population estimated at about 12,000 bears in the late 1960s, numbers have almost tripled, to just over 32,000 in 2023. ” [GWPF]
Question:
Are Polar Bears a Carbon sink?
{Asking for a friend. :)}

ToldYouSo

May 31, 2026 9:29 am

What? Yet another climate “tipping point” passed? Ho hum.

Please get back to me when you have something important to report.

Also, note to Charles Rotter: I do believe these corrections are needed in your first sentence in the above article:

“A new paper published this week in ~~CTiommunications~~ Communications Earth & Environment reports that the Arctic Ocean crossed an irreversible ~~chemical~~ climate tipping point in 2009.”

ToldYouSo

Reply to ToldYouSo

May 31, 2026 9:43 am

From Google’s AI bot:

“Evidence suggests we have likely passed the tipping points for the following core systems:
— Warm-Water Coral Reefs: Warming oceans and severe bleaching events have caused widespread coral die-offs, widely considered the first major global climate tipping point to be crossed.
— West Antarctic Ice Sheet: Scientists warn that ice losses in specific marine basins of West Antarctica have accelerated past the point of no return, locking in centuries of sea-level rise.
— Greenland Ice Sheet: Melting on the Greenland ice sheet is accelerating, and the threshold for its irreversible disintegration may have already been crossed.
— Boreal Permafrost (Abrupt Thaw): Large areas of permafrost are beginning to thaw abruptly, releasing trapped carbon and methane in a self-reinforcing feedback loop.”

Well, that’s it, folks . . . all is lost. Therefore, in the time we have remaining, laissez les bons temps rouler!

/sarc