which of the following represents an example of climate course hero

What are the feedbacks that result from a warming climate?

Under our current conditions — a planet that still has lots of glacial ice and permafrost — most of the feedbacks that result from a warming climate are positive feedbacks and so the climate changes that we cause get naturally amplified by natural processes.

What are some examples of climate forcing?

An example of a climate-forcing mechanism is the increase in the amount of carbon dioxide (CO 2) in the atmosphere that results from our use of fossil fuels. CO 2 traps heat in the atmosphere and leads to climate warming. Warming changes vegetation patterns; contributes to the melting of snow, ice, and permafrost; causes sea level to rise;

Why are climate feedbacks important?

As already stated, climate feedbacks are critically important in amplifying weak climate forcings into full-blown climate changes. When Milankovitch published his theory in 1924, it was widely ignored, partly because it was evident to climate scientists that the forcing produced by the orbital variations was not strong enough to drive the significant climate changes of the glacial cycles. Those scientists did not recognize the power of positive feedbacks. It wasn’t until 1973, 15 years after Milankovitch’s death, that sufficiently high-resolution data were available to show that the Pleistocene glaciations were indeed driven by the orbital cycles, and it became evident that the orbital cycles were just the forcing that initiated a range of feedback mechanisms that made the climate change.

How does warming affect the environment?

Warming changes vegetation patterns; contributes to the melting of snow, ice, and permafrost; causes sea level to rise; reduces the solubility of CO 2 in sea water; and has a number of other minor effects. Most of these changes contribute to more warming.

What is the mechanism for relative climate stability?

The mechanism for that relative climate stability has been the evolution of our atmosphere from one that was dominated by CO2, and also had significant levels of CH4 — both GHGs — to one with only a few hundred parts per million of CO2 and just under 1 part per million of CH4.

What is the feedback of melting ice and snow?

Melting of ice and snow leads to several different types of feedbacks, an important one being a change in albedo. Albedo is a measure of the reflectivity of a surface. Earth’s various surfaces have widely differing albedos, expressed as the percentage of light that reflects off a given material.

What is the feedback of permafrost?

Melting of permafrost, for example, is a strong positive feedback because frozen soil contains trapped organic matter that is converted to CO 2 and methane (CH 4) when the soil thaws. Both these gases accumulate in the atmosphere and add to the warming effect.