Earth Closer To 'Irreversible Changes' As Humanity Crosses 4 Of 9 Planetary Boundaries

Reuters / NASA / JPL-Caltech / Handout (Photo by Coby Bidwell / flickr.com)

"For the first time in human history, we need to relate to the risk of destabilizing the entire et," one of the authors of the study, Professor John Rockstrom of Stockholm University, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. His colleague, Professor Will Steffen, believes that “past a certain threshold, curbing greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, or land-use change… may not reverse or even slow the trends of Earth System degradation, with potentially catastrophic consequences.”

The report is based on the idea of nine ‘boundaries’ that originated in 2009. Each phase stands for boundaries within which humanity can live sustainably and what that would entail.

Each is marked by an irreversible change to our environment and, once reached, is

followed by a period where we can either act or let it all slip further. And “given the pace of change, we can no longer exclude the possibility of reaching critical tipping points that could abruptly and irreversibly change living conditions on Earth,” the report says.

Back in September, a WWF report said that the Earth has crossed three of out the nine identified "planetary boundaries,” which it described as “potentially catastrophic changes to life as we know it,” including biodiversity, carbon dioxide levels and nitrogen pollution from fertilizers.

Scientists consider climate change to be at the top of this list of planetary boundaries, the researchers believe.

"We are at a point where we may see abrupt and irreversible changes due to climate change," Rockstrom continued, referencing particularly the danger of melting Arctic ice sheets, which would release large amount of greenhouse gases.

According to the study, our planet was “remarkably stable state” for almost 12,000 years. This however changed roughly 100 years ago, according to Carpenter, who said that “everything important to civilization” occurred during that precise stretch of time – from agriculture to the industrial revolution.

Reuters / Cheryl Ravelo

The paper was discussed at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in January 2014, presented as a wake-up call to policymakers. It will also be incorporated into the UN’s upcoming global strategy in September, for when the current Millennium Development Goals expire.

Reuters / Phil Noble

Satellite Images To Monitor Ocean Acidification In Remote Areas From Space

This image depicts total ocean alkalinity from space.(Image by esa.int)

Meanwhile a group of international researchers is developing "pioneering techniques" to monitor the acidity of oceans from space, using satellites that can orbit the Earth up to 700 km above us in hard-to-reach areas, like the Arctic, much faster than before.

According to the scientists, a number of existing satellites can be used for the task, including the European Space Agency's Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) sensor that was launched in 2009 and NASA's Aquarius satellite launched in 2011.

"Satellites are likely to become increasingly important for the monitoring of ocean acidification, especially in remote and often dangerous waters like the Arctic. It can be both difficult and expensive to take year-round direct measurements in such inaccessible locations," said lead researcher Dr Jamie Shutler, of the University of Exeter.

"We are pioneering these techniques so that we can monitor large areas of the Earth's oceans allowing us to quickly and easily identify those areas most at risk from the increasing acidification," he said.

Each year, over a quarter of global CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions from burning fossil fuels and cement production are absorbed by the planet's oceans. This process makes the seawater become more acidic and as a result more difficult for some marine life to exist. Growing CO2 emissions, along with the rising acidity of seawater, could devastate some marine ecosystems over the next century, ecologists warn, and that's why endless monitoring of changes in ocean acidity is vital. A report issued before a United Nations climate summit in New York put 2014 world carbon emissions 65 percent above levels in 1990, despite repeated promises of curbs and a shift to renewable energies. It said world emissions could reach 43.2 billion tons in 2019, with 12.7 billion from China alone, as the number one carbon emitter. 

Reuters / Balazs Koranyi

Current methods of measuring temperature and salinity to determine acidity are restricted to in situ tools and measurements from research vessels. Since such vessels are expensive to run and operate, the approach limits the sampling only to small areas of the ocean, however.

The groundbreaking techniques use satellite mounted thermal cameras to take ocean temperatures, while microwave sensors check salinity. These measurements can be used to assess ocean acidification more quickly and over much larger areas than has been possible before, researchers say.

"In recent years, great advances have been made in the global provision of satellite and in situ data. It is now time to evaluate how to make the most of these new data sources to help us monitor ocean acidification, and to establish where satellite data can make the best contribution," said Dr Peter Land from Plymouth Marine Laboratory, the lead author of the paper, set to be published on Tuesday in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.
Scientists from the University of Exeter, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Institut français de recherche pour l'exploitation de la mer (Ifremer) and the European Space Agency took part in the research.

Originally published in RT.com