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Scientists isolate climate ‘tipping points’

Climate experts have ranked the nine most vulnerable regions of Earth, the Guardian reported on Tuesday, warning they are in danger of catastrophic collapse before the end of the century.

The study, which appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, identifies the areas at risk of passing critical thresholds
or "tipping points", beyond which they will not recover.

Most immediately in peril are Arctic sea ice and the Greenland ice sheet, the study warns. Some predictions say that there will not be
any sea ice in the summer months within 25 years.

The Amazon rainforest, which is threatened by reduced rainfall, is next on the list. Scientists also expressed concerns for the Boreal
forests in the north, and predicted that El Niño, the climate phenomenon which has a profound impact on world weather systems, will
become more intense.

The west African monsoon could also collapse, leading to twice as many unusually dry years by the end of the century. The Indian summer
monsoon is predicted to become more erratic, the study said, and the west Antarctic ice sheet is seen shrinking.

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