Earth's Feedback Systems
This gas traps heat in the atmosphere, stabilizing temperatures.
What is CO₂/What are greenhouse gases?
Glacier data shows temperatures have done this since 1960.
What is increased/warmed?
Water can exist as solid, liquid, and this on Earth.
What is gas/vapor?
Surface mining harms these two Earth systems most.
What are lithosphere and biosphere?
Land heats up faster than water due to this property.
What is lower heat capacity?
Melting ice reduces this, causing more heat absorption.
What is albedo?
This measurable increase in Earth’s heat retention, linked to CO₂ rise, shares its name with a gardening tool.
What is the greenhouse effect?
Ice wedging is this type of weathering.
What is mechanical?
Nuclear power’s biggest drawback.
What is radioactive waste?
Limestone forms from carbon stored here.
What is the lithosphere?
A warming loop where melting permafrost releases methane.
What is positive feedback?
While CO₂ levels have risen steadily since 1960, this short-term climate phenomenon can temporarily mask warming trends.
What are volcanic eruptions?
Melting icebergs temporarily reduce ocean water’s ____.
What is salinity?
Clear-cutting forests accelerates this process, removing topsoil and clogging rivers with sediment.
What is erosion?
SO₂ emissions cause this environmental problem.
What is acid rain?
Burning these disrupts Earth’s natural carbon balance.
What are fossil fuels?
Glacier data shows accelerated melting after 1990, suggesting climate change entered this intensified phase.
What is anthropogenic dominance?
This property lets water moderate coastal climates.
What is high specific heat?
Paved cities can be 10°F hotter than rural areas due to lost vegetation and this material’s heat absorption.
What is concrete?
Rising CO₂ levels make oceans more acidic, harming organisms that rely on this compound for their shells.
What is calcium carbonate?
The process where oceans absorb CO₂, lowering pH.
What is ocean acidification?
This 'paradox' describes how global warming can increase snowfall in Antarctica while still reducing total ice mass.
What is the ice-albedo feedback loop?
This climate-driven process accelerates the formation of karst landscapes like caves, as increased rainfall dissolves bedrock faster—but also threatens coastal versions of these landforms through rising sea levels.
What is chemical weathering?
Two ways to reduce air pollution.
What are renewable energy/recycling/etc.?
Melting permafrost releases this super-potent greenhouse gas, 25x worse than CO₂.
What is a methane?