Reconciling global tipping point theories: insight from magnetic experiments
Reconciling global tipping point theories: insight from magnetic experiments
Driven by a combination of global warming and unsustainable resource management, global tipping elements represent existential threats to Earth’s systems and communities. However, the tipping point theory is still developing. Here, we reconcile alternative theories through a comparison of mathematical tipping point models and empirical experiments on micromagnet systems. We show how discontinuous change in spatially complex ecosystem models and multidomain magnetic materials represents common generic stress-response behavior in systems that organize spatially when placed under stress. Such systems show “soft,” incremental rather than “hard,” abrupt change and may represent the majority of ecological, landscape, and social-ecological systems. The findings emphasize how the classic fold bifurcation model should be restricted to describing simple systems. We explore the effects of stress magnitude and rate on soft and hard systems and draw insight for global tipping elements: scale dependence, abrupt versus incremental change, reversibility, early warning signals, and positive socioeconomic tipping points.
Barkhausen steps, Busse balloon, abrupt change, climate change, fold bifurcation, global tipping points, hysteresis, magnetic experiments, reaction diffusion, scale dependence
Dearing, John A.
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Thompson, Roy
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Tooke, Kirsty
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Willcock, Simon
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18 July 2025
Dearing, John A.
dff37300-b8a6-4406-ad84-89aa01de03d7
Thompson, Roy
c0a89273-9a6f-420b-8bb5-1d87b98db842
Tooke, Kirsty
59d3b6af-5e86-4296-9156-6ef54eb69608
Willcock, Simon
89d9767e-8076-4b21-be9d-a964f5cc85d7
Dearing, John A., Thompson, Roy, Tooke, Kirsty and Willcock, Simon
(2025)
Reconciling global tipping point theories: insight from magnetic experiments.
One Earth, 8 (7), [101358].
(doi:10.1016/j.oneear.2025.101358).
Abstract
Driven by a combination of global warming and unsustainable resource management, global tipping elements represent existential threats to Earth’s systems and communities. However, the tipping point theory is still developing. Here, we reconcile alternative theories through a comparison of mathematical tipping point models and empirical experiments on micromagnet systems. We show how discontinuous change in spatially complex ecosystem models and multidomain magnetic materials represents common generic stress-response behavior in systems that organize spatially when placed under stress. Such systems show “soft,” incremental rather than “hard,” abrupt change and may represent the majority of ecological, landscape, and social-ecological systems. The findings emphasize how the classic fold bifurcation model should be restricted to describing simple systems. We explore the effects of stress magnitude and rate on soft and hard systems and draw insight for global tipping elements: scale dependence, abrupt versus incremental change, reversibility, early warning signals, and positive socioeconomic tipping points.
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PIIS2590332225001848
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e-pub ahead of print date: 18 July 2025
Published date: 18 July 2025
Keywords:
Barkhausen steps, Busse balloon, abrupt change, climate change, fold bifurcation, global tipping points, hysteresis, magnetic experiments, reaction diffusion, scale dependence
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Local EPrints ID: 504423
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/504423
ISSN: 2590-3330
PURE UUID: ee00bcca-9891-423f-8174-efcf1de52396
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Date deposited: 09 Sep 2025 17:00
Last modified: 13 Sep 2025 01:50
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Author:
Roy Thompson
Author:
Kirsty Tooke
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