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The biggest negative feedback loop I am aware of is clouds. Higher temp, more moisture in the air, more clouds, greater reflection of incoming light (and greate
by hcknwscommenter 6y ago
The biggest negative feedback loop I am aware of is clouds. Higher temp, more moisture in the air, more clouds, greater reflection of incoming light (and greater retention of heat, so not a clear negative loop in all scenarios). However, as far as I can tell, clouds are a lot easier to model than the positive feed back loops we know/suspect, albedo decrease, clathrate guns, peat breakdown, etc. Thus, we are in a situation, where negative feedback loops seem well accounted for and there are a few potentially catastrophic, but perfectly plausible, positive feedback loops that are too difficult to properly assess. It is scary.
- tempestn 6y agoAre you sure clouds actually reduce warming? My understanding was that since they retain heat through the night, but only reflect light in the day, they actually exacerbate warming. That's why it's thought that airplane contrails contribute to warming, since they increase cloud cover. Could be wrong though; I don't recall where I read that exactly.