Climate change feedbacks
Climate change feedbacks are processes that amplify or dampen an initial climate shift by changing factors that influence the climate system.
Water vapor feedback: The increase in atmospheric water vapor as air warms, which strengthens the greenhouse effect. Warming raises humidity, and water vapor traps more outgoing heat.
Climate system: The interacting atmosphere, ocean, land, ice, and living systems that shape Earth's climate. Feedbacks arise through interactions among these connected components.
Permafrost carbon feedback: The release of carbon dioxide and methane as warming thaws carbon-rich permafrost. It is a potentially amplifying carbon-cycle feedback in high-latitude regions.
Climate feedback parameter: A measure of how Earth's radiative energy balance changes with global temperature. It quantifies the net strength of climate feedbacks in energy-balance analyses.
Ice–albedo feedback: The reinforcing effect in which melting reflective ice exposes darker surfaces that absorb more sunlight. Initial warming can reduce reflectivity and cause additional solar heating.
Radiative forcing: A change in Earth's energy balance caused by altered atmospheric composition, sunlight, or surface properties. It describes the initial disturbance whose climate response feedbacks modify.
Amazon rainforest dieback: The loss of Amazon forest that can reduce regional rainfall and release stored carbon. Forest loss can reinforce drying and warming through coupled ecological and climate changes.
Tipping point (climatology): A threshold beyond which a climate subsystem shifts substantially, often with limited reversibility. Feedbacks can contribute to tipping behavior, but a feedback is a process, not a threshold.
Planck feedback: The stabilizing response in which a warmer planet emits more infrared radiation to space. This fundamental negative feedback opposes warming as surface temperature rises.
Climate sensitivity: The amount of global warming associated with a specified change in radiative forcing or atmospheric carbon dioxide. Feedback strength helps determine how much temperature changes for a given forcing.