David A. McKay
@davidamckay.bsky.social
Climate & Earth system scientist; Lecturer, Sussex Uni; sci-comm, inc climatetippingpoints.info. Into Earth, life, & societies as complex & intertwined systems. More often at https://mstdn.social/@davidamckay
davidarmstrongmckay.com
davidarmstrongmckay.com
Reposted by David A. McKay
I had a great chat with @smartcookies.bsky.social podcast a little while back, covering climate change, denialism, doomism, tipping points, and geoengineering.
Watch here www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoxH... or listen via wherever you get your podcasts!
www.patreon.com/the_smart_co...
#ClimateChange
Watch here www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoxH... or listen via wherever you get your podcasts!
www.patreon.com/the_smart_co...
#ClimateChange
November 3, 2025 at 9:12 AM
I had a great chat with @smartcookies.bsky.social podcast a little while back, covering climate change, denialism, doomism, tipping points, and geoengineering.
Watch here www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoxH... or listen via wherever you get your podcasts!
www.patreon.com/the_smart_co...
#ClimateChange
Watch here www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoxH... or listen via wherever you get your podcasts!
www.patreon.com/the_smart_co...
#ClimateChange
I had a great chat with @smartcookies.bsky.social podcast a little while back, covering climate change, denialism, doomism, tipping points, and geoengineering.
Watch here www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoxH... or listen via wherever you get your podcasts!
www.patreon.com/the_smart_co...
#ClimateChange
Watch here www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoxH... or listen via wherever you get your podcasts!
www.patreon.com/the_smart_co...
#ClimateChange
November 3, 2025 at 9:12 AM
I had a great chat with @smartcookies.bsky.social podcast a little while back, covering climate change, denialism, doomism, tipping points, and geoengineering.
Watch here www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoxH... or listen via wherever you get your podcasts!
www.patreon.com/the_smart_co...
#ClimateChange
Watch here www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoxH... or listen via wherever you get your podcasts!
www.patreon.com/the_smart_co...
#ClimateChange
Apropos of recent AMOC news, I've finally gotten round to updating this AMOC tipping explainer from a couple years back with some of the flurry of papers published since then - check it out if you'd like some more background:
climatetippingpoints.info/2023/08/15/a...
#AMOC #TippingPoints #Climate
climatetippingpoints.info/2023/08/15/a...
#AMOC #TippingPoints #Climate
Shutdown: can climate change make ocean currents collapse?
A recent study renewed worries that the ‘AMOC’ – a key set of ocean currents – could soon pass a tipping point and shutdown this century, with major ramifications for the cl…
climatetippingpoints.info
August 29, 2025 at 11:22 AM
Apropos of recent AMOC news, I've finally gotten round to updating this AMOC tipping explainer from a couple years back with some of the flurry of papers published since then - check it out if you'd like some more background:
climatetippingpoints.info/2023/08/15/a...
#AMOC #TippingPoints #Climate
climatetippingpoints.info/2023/08/15/a...
#AMOC #TippingPoints #Climate
Writing this in 2019, there was a small cottage industry in dodgy Arctic sea ice trend-fitting to claim collapse by 2022. Instead, it's plateaued, in line with projected 1st ice-free summer in 2030s/40s plus natural variability. A case study in power of process understanding vs. naïve trend-fitting!
August 20, 2025 at 12:02 PM
Writing this in 2019, there was a small cottage industry in dodgy Arctic sea ice trend-fitting to claim collapse by 2022. Instead, it's plateaued, in line with projected 1st ice-free summer in 2030s/40s plus natural variability. A case study in power of process understanding vs. naïve trend-fitting!
Quote from me on this. Obviously not good, but not unexpected - the more warming there is, the harder it gets for natural carbon sinks to keep pace with rising CO2, but in absolute terms we still expect them to keep on taking up carbon in to the future (just not as big a % of emissions as so far).
Climate change is increasingly affecting the ability of Earth’s natural carbon sinks to soak up excess CO2, and this means more of the greenhouse gas we emit is staying in the atmosphere, leading to further warming.
Earth's carbon sinks are being eroded by climate change feedback loops
www.newscientist.com
August 20, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Quote from me on this. Obviously not good, but not unexpected - the more warming there is, the harder it gets for natural carbon sinks to keep pace with rising CO2, but in absolute terms we still expect them to keep on taking up carbon in to the future (just not as big a % of emissions as so far).
Reposted by David A. McKay
I've wanted to make this video for literal years, and finally summoned the courage.
Is permafrost *really* a climate time bomb?
Thank you @davidamckay.bsky.social for the input!
youtu.be/97-egzC-xjk
Is permafrost *really* a climate time bomb?
Thank you @davidamckay.bsky.social for the input!
youtu.be/97-egzC-xjk
Is Permafrost Really a Climate Time Bomb?
YouTube video by ClimateAdam
youtu.be
August 11, 2025 at 12:45 PM
I've wanted to make this video for literal years, and finally summoned the courage.
Is permafrost *really* a climate time bomb?
Thank you @davidamckay.bsky.social for the input!
youtu.be/97-egzC-xjk
Is permafrost *really* a climate time bomb?
Thank you @davidamckay.bsky.social for the input!
youtu.be/97-egzC-xjk
Reposted by David A. McKay
Seen a #TippingPoints story recently about the SMOC (the AMOC's southern sibling) abruptly reversing? Thankfully, it's not true (seems a press release got overenthusiastic). Want to know what the paper behind it really said? Read this from the lead author instead: theconversation.com/completely-u...
July 9, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Seen a #TippingPoints story recently about the SMOC (the AMOC's southern sibling) abruptly reversing? Thankfully, it's not true (seems a press release got overenthusiastic). Want to know what the paper behind it really said? Read this from the lead author instead: theconversation.com/completely-u...
Seen a #TippingPoints story recently about the SMOC (the AMOC's southern sibling) abruptly reversing? Thankfully, it's not true (seems a press release got overenthusiastic). Want to know what the paper behind it really said? Read this from the lead author instead: theconversation.com/completely-u...
July 9, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Seen a #TippingPoints story recently about the SMOC (the AMOC's southern sibling) abruptly reversing? Thankfully, it's not true (seems a press release got overenthusiastic). Want to know what the paper behind it really said? Read this from the lead author instead: theconversation.com/completely-u...
I was on BBC Radio Scotland last week talking about whether the recent very sunny & dry followed by wet weather in Scotland & rUK has been a case of "weather whiplash" - you can listen in here: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/..., & read my write-up: medium.com/p/82e39321740c
#ClimateChange #SciComm
#ClimateChange #SciComm
Is Britain’s spring suffering from a case of weather whiplash?
This text is based on my comments on a BBC Radio Scotland panel on May 27th 2025, in which we talked about the phenomenon of “weather…
medium.com
June 2, 2025 at 9:38 AM
I was on BBC Radio Scotland last week talking about whether the recent very sunny & dry followed by wet weather in Scotland & rUK has been a case of "weather whiplash" - you can listen in here: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/..., & read my write-up: medium.com/p/82e39321740c
#ClimateChange #SciComm
#ClimateChange #SciComm
Reposted by David A. McKay
NEW – ‘Significant’ risk of Amazon forest dieback if global warming overshoots 1.5C | @ayeshatandon.carbonbrief.org w/ comment from @gergmunday.bsky.social Nico Wunderling @davidamckay.bsky.social David Lapola @chrisd-jones.bsky.social
‘Significant’ risk of Amazon forest dieback if global warming overshoots 1.5C - Carbon Brief
Even passing 1.5C of global warming temporarily would trigger a “significant” risk of Amazon forest “dieback”, says a new study.
buff.ly
May 16, 2025 at 9:34 AM
NEW – ‘Significant’ risk of Amazon forest dieback if global warming overshoots 1.5C | @ayeshatandon.carbonbrief.org w/ comment from @gergmunday.bsky.social Nico Wunderling @davidamckay.bsky.social David Lapola @chrisd-jones.bsky.social
Reposted by David A. McKay
Introducing the special inaugural double issue of Dialogues on Climate Change @dialoguescc.bsky.social, with 27 authors addressing the state of research in 20 articles on hotly debated topics!
Volume 1 Issue 1: journals.sagepub.com/toc/dcca/1/1
Volume 2 Issue 1: journals.sagepub.com/toc/dcca/2/1
Volume 1 Issue 1: journals.sagepub.com/toc/dcca/1/1
Volume 2 Issue 1: journals.sagepub.com/toc/dcca/2/1
April 29, 2025 at 7:39 AM
Introducing the special inaugural double issue of Dialogues on Climate Change @dialoguescc.bsky.social, with 27 authors addressing the state of research in 20 articles on hotly debated topics!
Volume 1 Issue 1: journals.sagepub.com/toc/dcca/1/1
Volume 2 Issue 1: journals.sagepub.com/toc/dcca/2/1
Volume 1 Issue 1: journals.sagepub.com/toc/dcca/1/1
Volume 2 Issue 1: journals.sagepub.com/toc/dcca/2/1
Going to @egu.eu #EGU25 today? I'll be speaking remotely about Holocene climate stability (and whether or not it means we're in a self-stabilising climate attractor, or just got lucky) & the #HothouseEarth hypothesis at 1620 CEST in Room F1 / online: meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/EGU25-...
Abstract EGU25-19647
meetingorganizer.copernicus.org
April 28, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Going to @egu.eu #EGU25 today? I'll be speaking remotely about Holocene climate stability (and whether or not it means we're in a self-stabilising climate attractor, or just got lucky) & the #HothouseEarth hypothesis at 1620 CEST in Room F1 / online: meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/EGU25-...
Come work with us at Uni. Sussex Geography!
We're looking for a 1yr maternity cover Assist. Prof., teaching on the Earth system, climate change, & biogeography, starting in August.
Details here: jobs.sussex.ac.uk/job/003194b4...
#AcademicJobs #AcademicSky #Geography #UKHE #ClimateScience
We're looking for a 1yr maternity cover Assist. Prof., teaching on the Earth system, climate change, & biogeography, starting in August.
Details here: jobs.sussex.ac.uk/job/003194b4...
#AcademicJobs #AcademicSky #Geography #UKHE #ClimateScience
Assistant Professor in Physical Geography Ref: 40324 (Fixed Term, Maternity Cover) - Job page - University of Sussex Job Search
jobs.sussex.ac.uk
April 3, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Come work with us at Uni. Sussex Geography!
We're looking for a 1yr maternity cover Assist. Prof., teaching on the Earth system, climate change, & biogeography, starting in August.
Details here: jobs.sussex.ac.uk/job/003194b4...
#AcademicJobs #AcademicSky #Geography #UKHE #ClimateScience
We're looking for a 1yr maternity cover Assist. Prof., teaching on the Earth system, climate change, & biogeography, starting in August.
Details here: jobs.sussex.ac.uk/job/003194b4...
#AcademicJobs #AcademicSky #Geography #UKHE #ClimateScience
Reposted by David A. McKay
Two decades of climate tipping points research: Progress and outlook
New article online first in @dialoguescc.bsky.social by @davidamckay.bsky.social journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
New article online first in @dialoguescc.bsky.social by @davidamckay.bsky.social journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
March 17, 2025 at 10:37 AM
Two decades of climate tipping points research: Progress and outlook
New article online first in @dialoguescc.bsky.social by @davidamckay.bsky.social journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
New article online first in @dialoguescc.bsky.social by @davidamckay.bsky.social journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
I recently spoke with @jessimckenzi.bsky.social at the @thebulletin.org for their new special issue on climate #TippingPoints - lots of great pieces & different views, and you can check out the full interview with me here (including conjuring a new meta-metaphor!): thebulletin.org/2025/03/meta...
March 14, 2025 at 4:38 PM
I recently spoke with @jessimckenzi.bsky.social at the @thebulletin.org for their new special issue on climate #TippingPoints - lots of great pieces & different views, and you can check out the full interview with me here (including conjuring a new meta-metaphor!): thebulletin.org/2025/03/meta...
I'm co-convening a research session at this year's Global Tipping Points Conference in Exeter, June 30th-July 3rd - abstracts presenting your latest research on Earth System Tipping Points and Risks welcome by March 19th!
#EarthSystemScience #ClimateScience #TippingPoints
#EarthSystemScience #ClimateScience #TippingPoints
👉 Only 1 week left to submit abstracts for the research and poster sessions at the Global Tipping Points conference 2025. Submit your abstract here: global-tipping-points.org/conference-2...
📅 Deadline: 19 March
📅 Deadline: 19 March
🌍Submit your abstracts for the Global #TippingPoints conference by 19 March! Choose from 25 sessions across 3 main themes -🔗 global-tipping-points.org/conference-2...
@pik-potsdam.bsky.social
@maxplanck.de
@bezosearthfund.org
@globalchallenges.bsky.social
@wcrpclimate.bsky.social
@pik-potsdam.bsky.social
@maxplanck.de
@bezosearthfund.org
@globalchallenges.bsky.social
@wcrpclimate.bsky.social
March 12, 2025 at 11:53 AM
I'm co-convening a research session at this year's Global Tipping Points Conference in Exeter, June 30th-July 3rd - abstracts presenting your latest research on Earth System Tipping Points and Risks welcome by March 19th!
#EarthSystemScience #ClimateScience #TippingPoints
#EarthSystemScience #ClimateScience #TippingPoints
Reposted by David A. McKay
The weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation could be bolstering rainfall over the Amazon, reducing the risk it will reach a tipping point
Slowdown of critical ocean current may preserve the Amazon rainforest
The weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation could be bolstering rainfall over the Amazon, reducing the risk it will reach a tipping point
www.newscientist.com
February 19, 2025 at 8:53 AM
The weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation could be bolstering rainfall over the Amazon, reducing the risk it will reach a tipping point
New blogpost: *On the Point of Tipping*
[some thoughts-in-progress (that ended up quite long...) on the uses & limitations of climate tipping points as a scientific metaphor & model]
gaiaexmachina.wordpress.com/2025/01/28/o...
#TippingPoints #ClimateChange #EarthSystemScience #PhilosophyOfScience
[some thoughts-in-progress (that ended up quite long...) on the uses & limitations of climate tipping points as a scientific metaphor & model]
gaiaexmachina.wordpress.com/2025/01/28/o...
#TippingPoints #ClimateChange #EarthSystemScience #PhilosophyOfScience
On the Point of Tipping (or, why tipping points are useful, but should not be reified)
It’s perhaps surprising that it’s taken as many as three whole posts here for me to get on to the topic of tipping points, given my recent academic and outreach work. I’ve been thinking about writi…
gaiaexmachina.wordpress.com
January 31, 2025 at 11:11 AM
New blogpost: *On the Point of Tipping*
[some thoughts-in-progress (that ended up quite long...) on the uses & limitations of climate tipping points as a scientific metaphor & model]
gaiaexmachina.wordpress.com/2025/01/28/o...
#TippingPoints #ClimateChange #EarthSystemScience #PhilosophyOfScience
[some thoughts-in-progress (that ended up quite long...) on the uses & limitations of climate tipping points as a scientific metaphor & model]
gaiaexmachina.wordpress.com/2025/01/28/o...
#TippingPoints #ClimateChange #EarthSystemScience #PhilosophyOfScience
The abstract submission deadline for #EGU25 is tomorrow 12GMT/13CET - if you're working on nonlinear human-Earth system interactions, then consider submitting your latest research to our session!
#EGU #EarthSystemScience #TippingPoints #Anthropocene
#EGU #EarthSystemScience #TippingPoints #Anthropocene
Thinking of going to @eurogeosciences.bsky.social GA2025? We have a session on 'Earth resilience, tipping points and human-Earth system interactions in the Anthropocene' - abstract deadline is Wednesday 15th Jan. 13:00 CET!
meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/sessio...
#EGU #EarthSystemScience
meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/sessio...
#EGU #EarthSystemScience
Session CL3.2.6
meetingorganizer.copernicus.org
January 14, 2025 at 3:32 PM
The abstract submission deadline for #EGU25 is tomorrow 12GMT/13CET - if you're working on nonlinear human-Earth system interactions, then consider submitting your latest research to our session!
#EGU #EarthSystemScience #TippingPoints #Anthropocene
#EGU #EarthSystemScience #TippingPoints #Anthropocene
Many things familiar to me in this article on the issues stemming from precarious ECR contracts (in some of my first postdoc projects, the zero hours contract I had to be on didn't even allow access to the Uni's *library*, let alone a desk, webprofile, or a long enough contract to write a paper in).
an important report on precarity in UK geography departments: “Whilst we cannot take full responsibility for the endemic structural problems within UK Higher Education, nor can we cede responsibility for caring about our colleagues.” blog.geographydirections.com/2025/01/13/r... @rgsibg.bsky.social
Resources for change: raising awareness of the challenges of fixed term contracts in geography departments
By the States of Precarity Team:, Johanne Bruun, Rachel Colls, James Esson, Peter Forman, Anna Jackman, Rachael Squire (corresponding author) “Because geography is about attention to difference an…
blog.geographydirections.com
January 14, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Many things familiar to me in this article on the issues stemming from precarious ECR contracts (in some of my first postdoc projects, the zero hours contract I had to be on didn't even allow access to the Uni's *library*, let alone a desk, webprofile, or a long enough contract to write a paper in).
Some top notch viral content at the moment over on linkedin, of some definitely real firefighters in LA rescuing absolutely real animals with very real smoke pouring out of... themselves? #LAWildfires #AI #LinkedIn
January 13, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Some top notch viral content at the moment over on linkedin, of some definitely real firefighters in LA rescuing absolutely real animals with very real smoke pouring out of... themselves? #LAWildfires #AI #LinkedIn
Reposted by David A. McKay
Dr. David McKay gave an excellent public lecture on ' #Climate Tipping Points' at Cardiff University's School of Earth & Environmental Sciences.
How close are they? & What can we do about them?
🧵 1 / 18
How close are they? & What can we do about them?
🧵 1 / 18
November 13, 2024 at 9:44 PM
Dr. David McKay gave an excellent public lecture on ' #Climate Tipping Points' at Cardiff University's School of Earth & Environmental Sciences.
How close are they? & What can we do about them?
🧵 1 / 18
How close are they? & What can we do about them?
🧵 1 / 18
Reposted by David A. McKay
Two decades of climate tipping points research: Progress and outlook
New article online first in Dialogues on Climate Change by @davidamckay.bsky.social journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
New article online first in Dialogues on Climate Change by @davidamckay.bsky.social journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
January 10, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Two decades of climate tipping points research: Progress and outlook
New article online first in Dialogues on Climate Change by @davidamckay.bsky.social journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
New article online first in Dialogues on Climate Change by @davidamckay.bsky.social journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by David A. McKay
Thinking of going to @eurogeosciences.bsky.social GA2025? We have a session on 'Earth resilience, tipping points and human-Earth system interactions in the Anthropocene' - abstract deadline is Wednesday 15th Jan. 13:00 CET!
meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/sessio...
#EGU #EarthSystemScience
meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/sessio...
#EGU #EarthSystemScience
Session CL3.2.6
meetingorganizer.copernicus.org
December 17, 2024 at 3:13 PM
Thinking of going to @eurogeosciences.bsky.social GA2025? We have a session on 'Earth resilience, tipping points and human-Earth system interactions in the Anthropocene' - abstract deadline is Wednesday 15th Jan. 13:00 CET!
meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/sessio...
#EGU #EarthSystemScience
meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/sessio...
#EGU #EarthSystemScience
Thinking of going to @eurogeosciences.bsky.social GA2025? We have a session on 'Earth resilience, tipping points and human-Earth system interactions in the Anthropocene' - abstract deadline is Wednesday 15th Jan. 13:00 CET!
meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/sessio...
#EGU #EarthSystemScience
meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/sessio...
#EGU #EarthSystemScience
Session CL3.2.6
meetingorganizer.copernicus.org
December 17, 2024 at 3:13 PM
Thinking of going to @eurogeosciences.bsky.social GA2025? We have a session on 'Earth resilience, tipping points and human-Earth system interactions in the Anthropocene' - abstract deadline is Wednesday 15th Jan. 13:00 CET!
meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/sessio...
#EGU #EarthSystemScience
meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/sessio...
#EGU #EarthSystemScience