Abrupt Climate Change
![](https://www.whoi.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/DSC_4192_Das.jpg)
Rivers flow on the ice sheets of Greenland, one of the fastest changing areas of the world due to climate change. (Photo by Sara Das, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Earth's climate has changed many times and in many different ways over geologic history. These changes have most often played out over many thousands of years.
Today, however, human activity—primarily in the form of increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere—is putting slow, inexorable pressure on the planetary system that governs Earth's climate. This is raising concerns that the climate could respond in abrupt and unexpected ways, shifting temperature or precipitation patterns in ways that may make it difficult for human society to adapt.
News Releases
Study reveals Missoula Floods impact on past abrupt climate changes
Following the Fresh Water
Extinction of Neanderthals Was Not a Climate Disaster Scenario
Fine-tuning the Steps in the Intricate Climate Change Dance
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WHOI in the News
Scientists resort to once-unthinkable solutions to cool the planet
More Than 11,000 International Scientists Declare Climate Emergency
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From Oceanus Magazine
National Academy scientists say the ocean must play a role in CO2 removal to stave off climate change
A committee from the National Academy of Science reviews ocean-based methods to remove carbon dioxide in order to meet the Paris Climate Agreement goals
An enduring legacy of impact in ocean and climate research
The new Francis E. Fowler IV Center for Ocean and Climate—a flagship program of WHOI’s president—is designed to unlock the institution’s full potential as the world’s premier independent ocean research organization to address climate change
Will Climate Change Affect the Greenland Ice Sheet?
Getting to the Bottom of the Greenland Ice Sheet
Greenland—the world’s largest island—is also home to one of the world’s largest ice sheets (after Antarctica). If Greenland’s two-mile-thick ice sheet melts completely, it would ultimately raise global sea level…
Ocean Circulation and a Clam Far From Home
In my first year of graduate school, I was stumped by a big question on my final exam in biological oceanography. Maybe I had missed the relevant lecture or an…