Amazon deforestation linked to reduced Tibetan snows, Antarctic ice loss: Study

[Judi Lynn]

by Claire Asher on 8 March 2023

Earth’s climate is controlled by a complex network of interactions between the atmosphere, oceans, lands, ice and biosphere. Many elements in this system are now being pushed toward tipping points, beyond which changes become self-sustaining, with the whole Earth system potentially shifting to a new steady state.

A recent study analyzed 40 years of air temperature measurements at more than 65,000 locations to investigate how changes in one region rippled through the climate system to affect temperatures in other parts of the globe. Computer models then simulated how these links may be affected by future climate change.

Researchers identified a strong correlation between high temperatures in the Amazon Rainforest and on the Tibetan Plateau. They found a similar relationship between temperatures in the Amazon and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Deforestation in the Amazon likely influences the Tibetan Plateau via a convoluted 20,000-kilometer (12,400-mile) pathway driven by atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns. The study suggests that a healthy, functioning Amazon is crucial not only for the regional climate in Brazil, but for the whole Earth system.

There’s a recent saying, grown popular among climate scientists: “What happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic.” Now, new research adds to our understanding that, likewise, what happens in the Amazon Rainforest doesn’t stay there.

Researchers reporting in Nature Climate Change last month found that deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest may have knock-on effects for the climate in distant regions, potentially pushing key elements of the global climate system — on the Tibetan Plateau and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet — closer to climatic tipping points that could be catastrophic for humanity and our planet’s biodiversity.

Earth’s climate is controlled by a complex nMetwork of interactions between its atmosphere, oceans, land, ice and biosphere. Scientists have identified many elements of this system that humanity’s actions are presently pushing toward thresholds, or tipping points, beyond which changes become self-sustaining — ultimately causing the whole Earth system to shift into a new state possibly hostile to life in its current forms.

“Earth system components that have a critical threshold beyond which a system reorganizes are called tipping elements,” explained study co-author Jingfang Fan, an Earth system scientist at Beijing Normal University in China and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in Germany. These tipping elements include the Amazon Rainforest biome, the East and West Antarctic ice sheets, the Arctic permafrost, and the Great Barrier Reef, among others. It is theorized that a tipping point reached in one region could trigger a tipping point in another, and so on, like toppling dominoes.

More:
https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/amazon-deforestation-linked-to-reduced-tibetan-snows-antarctic-ice-loss-study/

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