Climate feedback loops
The American Meteorological Society defines a feedback as a sequence of interactions determining the response of the system to an initial change. In the climate system, a feedback is a process that can work as part of a loop to either lessen or add to the effects of a change in one part of the system. When a process helps keep components of the system in balance, it sets up a negative, or balancing, feedback loop. When a change in one part of the system causes changes in the same direction in other parts of the Earth system, a positive, or reinforcing, feedback loop occurs.[2]
Directory
Albedo Effect | Soil Carbon Feedback | Functional complexity | Carbon Stocks | Carbon cycle
Time Crunch
Tipping Points
Tipping points occur when a positive feedback loop crosses a threshold that leads to large changes, that often can't be turned around or reversed. Essentially, the positive feedback loop becomes so strong, or the changes begin happening so quickly, that the impacts are like a snowball accumulating mass and rolling so quickly downhill that it can’t be stopped.[3]