A climate feedback is a response to climate change that alters the initial warming or cooling. Positive feedback amplifies the change; negative feedback opposes it. Positive feedback alone does not prove an irreversible transition.
Warming can mobilize frozen organic material or change sediment conditions, increasing methane emissions and strengthening the greenhouse effect. Production, transport and atmospheric release must be distinguished: methane can dissolve or be oxidized before reaching the atmosphere. Observed seabed bubbles alone do not establish the magnitude or timing of a global atmospheric feedback.
Replacing bright ice or snow with darker water or ground decreases surface albedo, increases absorbed sunlight and can cause further melting. Locally the extra absorbed heat flux is on the newly exposed surface. The effect depends on season, cloud cover and incident sunlight.

Ancestors (5)

  1. Climate change
  2. Geophysics
  3. Branch of physics
  4. Physics
  5. Home

Incoming links (1)

View article source

Discussion (0)

New discussion

There are no discussions about this article yet.

Articles by others on the same topic (0)

There are currently no matching articles.
See all articles in the same topic Create my own version