Warming Turns Arctic Tundra into Patchy Forests: Study
Warming Arctic climate has resulted in shrubs in the Arctic tundra turning into trees in just a few decades creating patches of forest which, if replicated across the tundra, would significantly accelerate global warming. Reuters

Earth is close to reaching tipping point, and it will become impossible for us to reverse global warming, according to a report.

Scientists from the Australian National University's Climate Change Institute have discovered that global warming is very close to becoming irreversible if greenhouse gas emission is not controlled. They found that the earth's temperature is likely to rise by six degrees Celsius by 2100 if no action is taken.

"This is the critical decade. If we don't get the curves turned around this decade we will cross those lines," Reuters quoted Will Steffen, executive director of the Australian National University's Climate Change Institute, as saying.

Scientists have predicted that if greenhouse gas emission is not controlled, it will affect all creatures on earth. They also found that the Amazon rainforest will get even drier as global warming increases and there will be a lot of droughts in the coming years killing several animals and trees.

Increased CO2 in the atmosphere has also turned oceans more acidic as they absorb it. In the past 200 years, ocean acidification has happened at a speed not seen for around 60 million years. This threatens coral reef development and could lead to the extinction of some species within decades, as well as to an increase in the number of predators, according to Reuters.

"There is about 1,600 billion tonnes of carbon there - twice the amount in the atmosphere today - and the northern high latitudes are experiencing the most severe temperature change of any part of the planet," said Steffen.

Climate Change