this post was submitted on 20 Jul 2023
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Collapse

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This is the place for discussing the potential collapse of modern civilization and the environment.


Collapse, in this context, refers to the significant loss of an established level or complexity towards a much simpler state. It can occur differently within many areas, orderly or chaotically, and be willing or unwilling. It does not necessarily imply human extinction or a singular, global event. Although, the longer the duration, the more it resembles a ‘decline’ instead of collapse.


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This factors in some feedback loops which most sudies to date have ignored. Note, that it excludes extra warming caused by all the additional water vapour in the air.

For context, studies suggest that the largest extinction event in Earth's history (so far), the Late Permian Extinction Event, saw temperature rises of around 8°C.

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[–] AquaticHelicopter 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Here's a summary of the paper from ClaudeAI. So it's not perfect but for anyone who doesn't want to read the entire paper and wants a decent summary:

Here is a summary of the key points from the scientific paper:

  • The paper examines climate sensitivity, defined as the equilibrium global temperature change caused by a doubling of CO2. Based on analysis of paleoclimate data from glacial and interglacial periods, the authors estimate the fast feedback climate sensitivity (ECS) is likely around 4.8°C for doubled CO2, higher than the IPCC estimate of ~3°C.

  • Climate response time, the time required to reach a new equilibrium after a forcing, does not seem to be getting faster in climate models even with improvements in ocean mixing. This is likely due to amplifying cloud feedbacks buffering ocean heat uptake and slowing surface warming.

  • Analysis of deep ocean temperature proxies over the Cenozoic era (past 66 million years) suggests CO2 levels were around 300-350 ppm in the Pliocene and 450 ppm at the transition to a nearly ice-free planet. This has implications for climate model sensitivity.

  • Aerosols likely have a more negative forcing than estimated by IPCC, based on the warming gap between models and observations. Restrictions on shipping emissions provide an opportunity to study aerosol effects.

  • The climate forcing from current greenhouse gas levels likely commits to 10°C warming including slow feedbacks like ice sheets, or 8°C if aerosol forcing remains around -1.5 W/m2. This shows the planet is far out of energy balance.

  • The authors argue that reducing emissions alone is no longer adequate - additional actions to reduce the energy imbalance like solar radiation management may be needed to avoid locking in multi-meter sea level rise.

In summary, the paper suggests climate sensitivity and committed warming are higher than widely assumed, implying an urgent need for policies beyond just reducing emissions.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

The authors argue that reducing emissions alone is no longer adequate

Well we couldn't even be bothered with that step, so I guess we are well and truly fucked. Sionara earth, it's been fun!