The Amazon dictates temperature in the Himalayas: study

By Pol Allingham via SWNS

The heat of the Amazon dictates temperatures in the Himalayas halfway around the world, reveals a new study.

When it rains more in the Amazon it snows less in Tibet, according to the findings.

Air temperatures in the South American tropical jungle affected regions along a 20,000 kilometer (12427 mile) pathway, say scientists who were surprised by the strength of the connection.

The atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns from South America to Southern Africa to the Middle East and finally to the Tibetan Plateau were all linked.

Because of the so-called teleconnections, experts warn reaching the climate tipping point would bring “severe consequences” that would “severely affect entire societies.”

A tipping point is a critical threshold where large and often irreversible damage is done to the climate.

Scientists from Beijing Normal University in China looked at 40 years of climate data from more than 65,000 sub-regions.

Likewise, higher temperatures in the jungle correlated with a warmer climate in the Himalayan region.

The Tibetan Plateau has been approaching the tipping point since 2008, and researchers suggest this could be influenced by logging, road construction and other stresses in the Amazon.

Despite its remote location, the Tibetan Plateau acts as a water reservoir essential for many livelihoods.

Professor Jingfang Fan, of Beijing Normal University, China, and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in Germany, said: “Logging, road construction and warming are already today stressing the Amazon rainforest, and will likely do so even more in the future.

"And while the Amazon region is of course an important Earth system element by itself, it’s also a burning question if and how changes in that region could affect other parts of the world.

“For the first time, we’ve now been able to robustly identify and quantify these so-called teleconnections.

“Our research confirms that Earth system tipping elements are indeed inter-linked even over long distances, and the Amazon is one key example how this could play out.”

Researchers used state-of-the-art climate computer simulations to figure out how climate change would warp long-distance connections until 2100.

They were surprised by how powerful the link was between extreme climates across the world.

Co-author Professor Jürgen Kurths said: “We’ve been surprised to see how strongly climate extremes in the Amazon are connected to climate extremes in Tibet.

“When it’s getting warmer in the Amazon, it also does so in Tibet, hence for temperature, there’s a positive correlation. It’s different for precipitation. When we have more rain in the Amazon, there’s less snowfall in Tibet.

“This has been overlooked so far.”

Co-author Professor Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, PIK, said the research published in Nature Climate Change highlights how severe the climate disaster could be.

He said: “Our research underlines that tipping cascades are a risk to be taken seriously: inter-linked tipping elements in the Earth system can trigger each other, with potentially severe consequences.

“To be clear, it’s unlikely that the climate system as a whole will tip.

“Yet, over time, sub-continental tipping events can severely affect entire societies and threaten important parts of the biosphere. This is a risk we should rather avoid.

“And we can do so by rapidly reducing greenhouse gas emissions and by developing nature-based solutions for removing CO2 from the atmosphere."