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Global Warming Feedback Loops

Climate's Vicious Cycles
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Sun. YES! Magazine GraphicAs early as 1896, Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius devised a basic formula to explain geologic changes in climate: add carbon dioxide, things heat up. Simple.

But scientists have since learned that a little atmospheric temperature rise can unlock vicious feedback loops that speed global warming. Some of these feedbacks are already taking effect. Others may be triggered by further warming. If global temperatures continue to rise, some of these feedbacks could spiral beyond our ability to reverse them. Here are four examples.

 

 

Pandora's Icebox: Climate's Vicious Cycles. YES! Magazine Graphic 2008.

 



Pandora's Icebox: Climate's Vicious Cycles. YES! Magazine Graphic 2008.

 



Pandora's Icebox: Climate's Vicious Cycles. YES! Magazine Graphic 2008.

 



Pandora's Icebox: Climate's Vicious Cycles. YES! Magazine Graphic 2008.



See sources here :: Photos from iStock

YES! MAGAZINE GRAPHIC, 2008



 

Madeline Ostrander wrote this article as part of Stop Global Warming Cold, the Spring 2008 issue of YES! Magazine. Madeline is associate editor of YES! Magazine Photo of Madeline Ostrander
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Climate Solutions
YES! Magazine encourages you to make free use of this article by taking these easy steps. Ostrander, M. (2008, January 29). Global Warming Feedback Loops. Retrieved February 09, 2010, from YES! Magazine Web site: http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/climate-solutions/global-warming-feedback-loops. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License Creative Commons License

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