Search Results
Teleconnections among tipping elements in the Earth system
2023, Liu, Teng, Chen, Dean, Yang, Lan, Meng, Jun, Wang, Zanchenling, Ludescher, Josef, Fan, Jingfang, Yang, Saini, Chen, Deliang, Kurths, Jürgen, Chen, Xiaosong, Havlin, Shlomo, Schellnhuber, Hans Joachim
Tipping elements are components of the Earth system that may shift abruptly and irreversibly from one state to another at specific thresholds. It is not well understood to what degree tipping of one system can influence other regions or tipping elements. Here, we propose a climate network approach to analyse the global impacts of a prominent tipping element, the Amazon Rainforest Area (ARA). We find that the ARA exhibits strong correlations with regions such as the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and West Antarctic ice sheet. Models show that the identified teleconnection propagation path between the ARA and the TP is robust under climate change. In addition, we detect that TP snow cover extent has been losing stability since 2008. We further uncover that various climate extremes between the ARA and the TP are synchronized under climate change. Our framework highlights that tipping elements can be linked and also the potential predictability of cascading tipping dynamics.
Quantifying Water Scarcity in Northern China Within the Context of Climatic and Societal Changes and South-to-North Water Diversion
2020, Yin, Yuanyuan, Wang, Lei, Wang, Zhongjing, Tang, Qiuhong, Piao, Shilong, Chen, Deliang, Xia, Jun, Conradt, Tobias, Liu, Junguo, Wada, Yoshihide, Cai, Ximing, Xie, Zhenghui, Duan, Qingyun, Li, Xiuping, Zhou, Jing, Zhang, Jianyun
With the increasing pressure from population growth and economic development, northern China (NC) faces a grand challenge of water scarcity, which can be further exacerbated by climatic and societal changes. The South-to-North Water Diversion (SNWD) project is designed to mitigate the water scarcity in NC. However, few studies have quantified the impact of the SNWD on water scarcity within the context of climatic and societal changes and its potential effects on economic and agricultural food in the region. We used water supply stress index (WaSSI) to quantify water scarcity within the context of environmental change in NC and developed a method to estimate the economic and agricultural impacts of the SNWD. Focuses were put on alleviating the water supply shortage and economic and agricultural benefits for the water-receiving NC. We find that societal changes, especially economic growth, are the major contributors to water scarcity in NC during 2009–2099. To completely mitigate the water scarcity of NC, at least an additional water supply of 13 billion m3/year (comparable to the annual diversion water by SNWD Central Route) will be necessary. Although SNWD alone cannot provide the full solution to NC's water shortage in next few decades, it can significantly alleviate the water supply stress in NC (particularly Beijing), considerably increasing the agricultural production (more than 115 Tcal/year) and bringing economic benefits (more than 51 billion RMB/year) through supplying industrial and domestic water use. Additionally, the transfer project could have impacts on the ecological environment in the exporting regions. ©2020. The Authors.