Clarifying tipping terminology

Niklas Boers; Robert E. Kopp; Peter Ashwin; Sebastian Bathiany; Maya Ben-Yami; Reyk Börner; Jofre Carnicer; Henk Dijkstra; Thomas L. Frölicher; Michael Ghil; Elisabeth Gilmore; Gabriele C. Hegerl; Laura Jackson; Shipra Jain; David Lapola; Timothy M. Lenton; Valerio Lucarini; Teng Liu; Virna L. Meccia; Andreas Morr; Anastasia Romanou; Thomas F. Stocker; Shuting Yang; Cunde Xiao

arXiv · 2610.14930

Clarifying tipping terminology

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Abstract

The notion of tipping points and related terminology have so far had inconsistent and sometimes confusing definitions in both scientific and popular literature. While it is difficult for the scientific community to align popular usage of the term tipping point with a precise definition, technical usage of related terms would benefit from greater consistency and rigor. Toward this end, we offer a systematic set of terms to clarify formal communication around potential tipping dynamics, with focus on examples from Earth system dynamics.

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Niklas Boers, Robert E. Kopp, Peter Ashwin, Sebastian Bathiany, Maya Ben-Yami, Reyk Börner, Jofre Carnicer, Henk Dijkstra, Thomas L. Frölicher, Michael Ghil, Elisabeth Gilmore, Gabriele C. Hegerl, Laura Jackson, Shipra Jain, David Lapola, Timothy M. Lenton, Valerio Lucarini, Teng Liu, Virna L. Meccia, Andreas Morr, Anastasia Romanou, Thomas F. Stocker, Shuting Yang, Cunde Xiao. 2026-10-10. Clarifying tipping terminology. https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.14930

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