Chapter 22. Chapter 22: Climate Change

What natural and anthropogenic factors affect climate...?

Interactive Study Guide
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Guiding Question 22.3

What natural and anthropogenic factors affect climate, and which are implicated in the climate change we are experiencing now? How might positive feedback loops affect climate?

Why You Should Care

The Earth’s climate is a complex web of interactions between sun, air, land, and water. The temperature of the Earth has changed over time—just 10,000 years ago, the Earth was emerging from an ice age. The Earth’s temperature is kept warmer by gases that absorb sunlight and heat radiated by the Earth’s surfaces: This is the greenhouse effect.

The greenhouse effect is affected positively and negatively by both natural and anthropogenic factors. Positive factors increase warming by building on themselves and negative factors decrease warming by damping themselves down. Our recent focus on the planet shows us that there are natural cycles (called Milankovitch cycles) that vary over long periods and depend on the Earth’s orbit and tilt on its axis. These cycles can either warm or cool the Earth depending on where they are in the cycle. More recently, we have discovered that anthropogenic (human-caused) factors can affect the greenhouse effect (positively, by increasing greenhouse gas emissions), albedo (negatively, by releasing air pollution to create more clouds), and carbon storage (positively, by deforestation).

Today, the fact is that humans are emitting more greenhouse gases and changing both positive and negative forcers. Both natural and anthropogenic factors are changing, and scientists are working to understand each of these factors in more detail but the net value of the forcers is positive and growing.

Question Test Your Vocabulary

Choose the correct term for each of the following definitions:

Term Definition
njsO5QA7B6OgzYE0A7YfCE8nE4rd31yaY2O0scqNWJHZdarf/9Lreo7AwBoJTQcGpfMhY2nH7RYbexQAoAXEUysBn59LQlxo23cQg48fHpdgYRH0KsSyW/jawGRh2NnXDAhmqbHPLsqwp06lTGMSv2iAUCYnroN5ugMNke+4DmjFzrmCJFyeKaFi6E8= Molecules in the atmosphere that absorb heat and reradi­ate it back to Earth.
OQY/VGSg7MYsoFYCZK3SxmdrFYXAhV9dZwlsUabQW47hoGLMRZYx1q1VDGEMtYuQEABd7IsXczpl3WA4LMpDa1Xkc70u9kO6ZG8SbVa0csGgTfWzUgGwvFRpwkY/LBIQud1pBk4lKvw0duS979+/TtRCQcLgpijGHVE9S8jEp7+43gRLlZZV68wwAHg= Changes caused by an initial event that trigger events which then reverse the response (for example, warming leads to events that eventually result in cooling).
R9/Dd/kbdqlry4QkmS9dru9ZDxMOTT+Qg/nTKP2+7TmWJywF0KKxuoZ/+0voLfx4L1suhlucheGY1CbrnpGEFYrGYeug2lMd2/kufwRYF5dB9q18yFkldTb52CCy2aFNDYAyYMndPN7N0rI0W5RQkB+AANk+uvbhDwjB8/pwU1WrLiIEdda2SCUUOhA= Predictable variations in Earth’s position in space rela­tive to the Sun that affect climate.
yIORKqNoYwkE+rGlt1BWaxdobQuaWE5TdNVORgej63t+D1zvLbdcTJmGxRs0ffiZiDWd1iOQyU4kjnr88FrLvn6ESM88bP9a46ZctghjQVKi9myVNU/D+7U3InxsRaT2XjLR6VcLQCFVj107R4/7BEyTLBj9mjWVHisseFHcYXicxWLgJY3JO5WSfew= The ability of a surface to reflect away solar radiation.
BVuxfah7HXyV5ihXuRyqOw+rEL5EHeVkF73pnjTvnfQbNbpSjbsTji0Pj7+Sc3B8TltOCN05AMqA24iOavGFlFNbB3ICt5CA5Qq66eJqkbQ8ZB0r5paZpoUfwHvC9nhVlWWpZAgZdF0lF7YBNP/ytx0YSDlhGXvxC9no2w6s1xv/Xe6/OdePZ/rnOyY= Changes caused by an initial event that then accen­tuate that original event (for example, a warming trend gets even warmer).
3V4tl+qLIwRPkMSR6Te7vqByfxb5b864lPKXqiTDU2L4PYoD1fjfa0kh6jLWO5X8/fDSy7HkU69mpeqlJUvWUzI5g4wpPUYis9nV4VKBj0ync90HZhT6G6jkR6XLOKPfrhjsWzqqLWNu/ForczMin0RdJKsxOL7QDI6qabVq4CQ5YsXGwyhsnEnOqFs= Anything that alters the balance of incoming solar radiation relative to the amount of heat that escapes out into space.
PUB/4iqUtgoRWtuJo+sHpMcL/9Pjg8uu0vFyKDWmvQNY38lIolpMOCP7SgJjKokAjsK75CrM+4mY5G4hhiCc3VEvGzJk4eQh9Fwb1s8KZYci5l3oNnToZcIAlvU8qlzQrz5Hu7risoEH3VwxmWeHhfsU5cC+X8dMUxdl/S4r7/Z88z5FNkEccb4QSdY= The warming of the planet that results when heat is trapped by Earth’s atmosphere.
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Question 22.1

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Question 22.2

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Question 22.3

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Infographic 22.4 Animation

Question 22.4

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Question 22.5

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Question 22.6

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Question 22.7

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Positive feedback loops cause more and more change to occur. The changes increase the intensity of the feedback loop and speed the rate of the change. Negative feedback loops decrease the intensity of the feedback and act to slow down change.
Infographic 22.5: Climate Forcers

Question 22.8

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Question 22.9

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Question 22.10

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Question 22.11

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The important point here is that the net value of all the positive and negative forcers is positive. Positive means an increase in global temperature—a warming. If the negative forcers had a larger value, then the net value would be lower (not as warm) or negative (cooler). Today, the forcers point toward a warming.
Infographic 22.6: Milankovitch Cycles Help Explain Past Climate Change

Question 22.12

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Question 22.13

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Question 22.14

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All three cycles are in mid-phase between warming and cooling, so their net effect is neither warming nor cooling. So any warming must be coming from some other factors.