Next steps towards the Tipping Point Modelling Intercomparison Project (TIPMIP)

Anthropogenic climate change poses considerable risk to the stability of the Earth system. The consequences associated with crossing certain tipping thresholds, wherein relatively small-scale changes in the state of a specific tipping element may induce widespread and potentially irreversible feedbacks, are among the most severe. The Tipping Point Modelling Intercomparison Project (TIPMIP, www.tipmip.org) seeks to systematically investigate tipping risks for the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, tropical and boreal forests as well as high-latitude permafrost  in order to both advance the understanding of the underlying  dynamics as well as to quantify the associated uncertainties around crossing such thresholds. Here, we discuss the initial proposed experimental protocols for TIPMIP for each domain (cryosphere, ocean, biosphere, fully coupled), the next  steps towards their implementation within the modelling community as well as the alignment with other ongoing and planned MIPs.