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Climate Feedback

Climate Feedbacks: An interaction mechanism between processes in the climate system is called a climate feedback, when the result of an initial process triggers changes in a second process that in turn influences the initial one. A positive feedback intensifies the original process, and a negative feedback reduces it.

Climate Feedback

Global Temperature Land-Ocean Index

Climate feedbacks are simply a resultant feedback of a change in the system that amplifies itself.

The best example of this is knowing the major greenhouse gases are H2O (water vapor), CO2 (carbon dioxide), CH4 (methane) and N2O (nitrous oxide).

Here is how it works

If you increase CO2, CH4 and N20, then you induce warming:

  1. This warming of the atmosphere then warms the ocean.
  2. When the ocean warms it evaporates more H20 (a greenhouse gas)
  3. This traps more heat in the atmosphere.

Then,

  1. This warming of the atmosphere then warms the ocean.
  2. When the ocean warms it evaporates more H20 (a greenhouse gas)
  3. This traps more heat in the atmosphere.

and so on.

The risk we face from climate feedbacks are that if natural balance is not restored, the system will begin to amplify on its own without further inducement from human caused forcing.

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