Here is the first of two animations I made to help describe tipping points and their prediction using early warning signals. You may have to click on the image to see it move.
The plot on the left is a potential well which shows the states of the system along with how stable they are (represented by the deepness of the well). The ball represents which state the system is currently in.
As we move through time, noise pushes the system moving the ball in the well. However we are also approaching a bifurcation causing the state on the left to become unstable. Eventually we pass the tipping point when this state has lost stability and so the ball/system moves into the new state suddenly.
The right hand plot tracks this movement so we create a time series of x where is it clear to see the tipping point has been passed.
Tipping Points, Climate and Other Things! 
2 thoughts on “Animations for Predicting Tipping Points (Part 1)”