GEL 10 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Gaia Hypothesis, Transpiration, Feedback
Document Summary
Define the fundamentals of the earth"s system. Introduce the concepts of forcings, feedbacks, and tipping points. The earth system behaves as a single, self-regulating system made up of interconnected components. All components of the system are linked - a change in one affects the other. The state of the system characterizes the system at a given time. The earth system is becoming out of equilibrium". The rate of co2 going into the atmosphere from fossil fuel burning and land-use changes is greater than the ability of the oceans and vegetation to absorb it. The heat buildup in the atmosphere is faster than the ocean"s ability to absorb the excess heat, so the heat escaping out from earth"s atmosphere idk. A feedback is when the result of 1 process triggers change in a 2nd process, which, in turn feeds back" into (influences) the 1st process.
