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Abrupt Impacts of Climate Change:  Anticipating Surprises / National Research Council. National Academies Press, 250 p., to be published.Read online : http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=18373Publisher's description :Climate is changing, forced out of the range of the past million years by levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases not seen in the Earth's atmosphere for a very, very long time. Lacking action by the world's nations, it is clear that the planet will be warmer, sea level will rise, and patterns of rainfall will change. But the future is also partly uncertain -- there is considerable uncertainty about how we will arrive at that different climate. Will the changes be gradual, allowing natural systems and societal infrastructure to adjust in a timely fashion? Or will some of the changes be more abrupt, crossing some threshold or "tipping point" to change so fast that the time between when a problem is recognized and when action is required shrinks to the point where orderly adaptation is not possible?--&#62; About the report :Report warns world is set for catastrophic climate change, Water 21, 9/12/2013 http://www.iwapublishing.com/template.cfm?name=news1826A new report from the US National Academy of Sciences warns that the world is already beginning to pass tipping points for abrupt, catastrophic and irreversible changes to the global climate. Abrupt climate change, unlike gradual changes such as a steady increase in global temperatures, can cause rapid changes to physical, biological and human systems over just years or decades, far too fast for humans to adapt properly...