Climate sensitivity

Question 1

The effects of increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations include changes in

Answer 1

temperature, precipitation, cloudiness and the frequency of extreme events.

Question 2

What is climate sensitivity?

Answer 2

The change in average global temperature

after atmospheric CO2 concentration is doubled and equilibrium is reached.

Question 3

What is a forcing?

Answer 3

Something that perturbs the radiative equilibrium of the atmosphere: for example, an increase in greenhouse gases (GHGs) that decreases the amount of longwave radiation emitted to space and thus warms the Earth.

Question 4

What is a temperature response?

Answer 4

A forcing pushes the

climate into a warmer or cooler state; this change in state is known as the temperature response.

Question 5

The climate’s response to a forcing is complicated

by what?

Answer 5

The presence of feedbacks, which can amplify or reduce the temperature change.
The melting of ice at the poles in response to
atmospheric warming produces a positive
feedback: the surface albedo (reflectivity) decreases, which decreases the amount of
radiation reflected back to space, and so the initial warming is amplified.