abrupt climate change

Coastal and island tide-gauge data show that sea level rose by just under 20 cm between 1870 and 2001, with an average rise of 1.7 mm per year during the 20th century and with an increase in the rate of rise over this period. This is consistent with the geological data and the few long records of sea level from coastal tide gauges.

Over the last 400,000 years the Earth's climate has been unstable, with very significant temperature changes, going from a warm climate to an ice age in as rapidly as a few decades. These rapid changes suggest that climate may be quite sensitive to internal or external climate forcings and feedbacks. This figures have been derived from the Vostok ice core, taken in Antarctica.

At night, illuminated satellites can be faintly seen moving across the sky. Some of them are imaging the Earth, recording data that is used to track weather and climate. On boats, thermometers thrown overboard measure temperatures of the ocean depths. From the tops of buildings, balloons float aloft to measure atmospheric conditions.

Broecker, WS.  2003.  Does the trigger for abrupt climate change reside in the ocean or in the atmosphere? Science. 300:1519-1522.

Shindell, D.  2007.  Estimating the potential for twenty-first century sudden climate change. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society a-Mathematical Physical and Engineering Sciences. 365:2675-2694.