Artificial intelligence can reveal climate change tipping points

Many experts believe that the Earth is quickly approaching various "tipping points" beyond which the effects of climate change could become irreversible. Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada are currently developing an artificial intelligence algorithm that could assess climate change tipping points to act as an early warning system. Some tipping points that are often associated with irreversible climate change include: the melting of the Arctic permafrost, leading to the release of huge amounts of methane in the atmosphere and rapid heating; the disintegration of ice sheets, causing sea-level changes; or the breakdown of oceanic current systems, spurring severe fluctuations in weather patterns. In order to detect in advance the possible emergence of such tipping points, scientists have created a deep-learning algorithm and trained it on what they characterize as a "universe of possible tipping points," including over half a million of possible models. Additionally, they have also tested it on specific real-world tipping points in different systems, including historical climate-related changes.