A tipping point is when small changes become significant enough to cause a larger, more critical change that can be abrupt, irreversible, and lead to cascading effects.

There are nine (9) tipping points where a changing climate could push the earth system into abrupt and irreversible change:

1. Greenland Ice Sheet disintegration (melting)
2. Permafrost loss (melting)
3. Disruption to ocean ecosystems (circulation change)
4. Boreal Forest shift (biome change)
5. Coral reef die-off (biome change)
6. Indian monsoon shift (circulation change)
7. West African monsoon shift (circulation change)
8. Antarctic ice sheet disintegration (melting)
9. Amazon forest die off with a shift towards becoming a savanna biome (biome change)

pathways:

Wikipedia / Tipping Points in the Climate System

02.04.2020 / National Library of Medicine / Social tipping dynamics for stabilizing Earth’s climate by 2050