Table 1.
Category | Type | Region | Models and scenarios |
I (switch) | 1. sea ice bimodality | Southern Ocean | BCC-CSM1-1 (all), BCC-CSM1-1-m (all), IPSL-CM5A-LR (all), GFDL-CM3 (all) |
II (forced | 2. sea ice bimodality | Southern Ocean | GISS-E2-H (rcp45), GISS-E2-R (rcp45, rcp85) |
transition to switch) | 3. abrupt change in productivity | Indian Ocean off | IPSL-CM5A-LR (rcp85) |
East Africa | |||
III (rapid change to new state) | 4. winter sea ice collapse | Arctic Ocean | MPI-ESM-LR (rcp85), CSIRO-MK3-6-0 (rcp85), CNRM-CM5 (rcp85), CCSM4 (rcp85), HadGEM2-ES (rcp8.5) |
5. abrupt sea ice decrease | regions of high-latitude oceans | CanESM2 (rcp85), CMCC-CESM (rcp85), FGOALS-G2 (rcp85), MRI-CGCM3 (all rcp) | |
6. abrupt increase in sea ice | region in Southern Ocean | MRI-CGCM3 (rcp45) | |
7. local collapse of convection | Labrador Sea, North Atlantic | GISS-E2-R (all rcp), GFDL-ESM2G (his), CESM1-CAM (rcp85), MIROC5 (rcp26), CSIRO-MK3-6-0 (rcp26) | |
8. total collapse of convection | North Atlantic | FIO-ESM (all rcp) | |
9. permafrost collapse | Arctic | HADGEM2-ES (rcp85) | |
10. abrupt snow melt | Tibetan Plateau | GISS-E2-H (rcp45, rcp85), GISS-E2-R (rcp45, rcp85) | |
11. abrupt change in vegetation | Eastern Sahel | BNU-ESM (all rcp) | |
IV (gradual change to new state) | 12. boreal forest expansion | Arctic | HadGEM2-ES (rcp85) |
13. forest dieback | Amazon | HadGEM2-ES (rcp85), IPSL-CM5A-LR (rcp85) |
Four categories are listed by type (column 2), region (column 3), and climate model and scenario (column 4). Fig. 2 provides examples of abrupt shifts for each category.