Michela Angeloni
CNR-ISAC, Torino, Italy
University of Bologna, Italy
Tipping points in the Earth’s climate
The concept of tipping points has been developed within the scientific context of climate change. One tipping point is defined as a critical level which, if exceeded, may originate abrupt and irreversible climate changes. Early warning signals are indicators which enable to predict the approach to a tipping point because they undergo a variation before reaching the critical threshold. Numerical climate models are fundamental tools to estimate the potential risk of future abrupt transitions. The aim of my PhD project is to reproduce the climate conditions in the vicinity of a tipping point using a climate model of intermediate complexity, the Planet Simulator (PlaSim), analysing the main causes and consequences of a transition. Another aim is to understand if it is possible to predict the approach to a tipping point before reaching it, identifying some early warning signals suggested by the literature and testing them in PlaSim.
Why do you do what you do?
I am a PhD student in Geophysics at the University of Bologna and I am strongly interested in the study and modelling of the climate system. My research work concerns simulations of the global climate with a coupled GCM of Intermediate Complexity, the Planet Simulator (PlaSim), with a particular focus on the detection and analysis of tipping points. Later in my thesis I plan to work also with the EC-Earth model.
Passions
Reading books, listening to music and painting
Challenges
Being more adventurous, learning something new and surprising myself