...issue of "abrupt climate change." 12 The report found that startlingly fast changes can take place: "Roughly half the north Atlantic warming since the...significant climatic changes across most of the globe. ... Abrupt climate changes were especially common when the climate system was being forced to change...

...occurred with startling speed. For example, roughly half of the warming of the North Atlantic Ocean since the last ice age was achieved in only a decade, and this warming was accompanied by significant changes in climate across most of the globe. Research over...