SME
Grade 12 Science · Problem type
Climate feedbacks
Use this for “Sea ice melts as Earth warms. Does that speed up the warming or slow it down?”
Explore
Ice reflects most sunlight; dark ground and sea absorb most of it.
Melting ice lets in more sunlight, which melts more ice: a positive feedback.
Assumptions
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A positive feedback makes a change bigger; a negative feedback works against it.
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Feedbacks decide how much the climate changes for each added bit of CO₂.
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Related lessons
Climate systems, feedbacks and climate change
Main lesson
Earth’s energy balance
Use this for “If Earth reflects 30% of sunlight and has no greenhouse gases, how warm is it?”
Climate zones by latitude
Use this for “Which climate zone has warm summers and cold winters?” and why the poles are cold.
The fast and slow carbon cycles
Use this for “How do volcanoes and burning fuels return buried carbon to the air, and which is faster?”
Adds CO₂ or takes it out?
Use this for “Which of these releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere?”
The CO₂ record at Mauna Loa
Use this for “How fast did CO₂ rise each decade, and is the rise speeding up?”