Weather instabilities as a warning sign for a nearby climatic tipping point?

Abstract

Using in a simple way the theory of non linear dynamical systems, we show that increasing climatic instabilities may be a qualitative warning sign for the occurrence of a nearby bifurcation, yielding a discontinuous and sudden climate tipping towards an unknown and unpredictable state. The possibility of an accurate prediction of the occurrence time of such a transition is also discussed in terms of the approach of a critical point.

9 pages, 1 figure. Original paper