Chapter 3A. Earth’s Energy Balance and Feedback Loops
Learning Objectives
By carefully reading this chapter and completing the learning activities within it, you should be able to do the following:
- Explain why it is important to understand Earth as a system
- Explain Earth’s energy budget describing the main flows of energy into and out of the system
- Explain the difference between weather and climate
- Explain the natural climate-forcing mechanisms related to solar energy variability and heat transfer between equator and poles.
- Explain climate forcing mechanisms related to heat transfer between Earth’s surface and the atmosphere and the role humans play in these mechanisms
- Explain how climate feedback loops work
- Construct a climate feedback loop for a given scenario to demonstrate your knowledge of how the carbon cycle and albedo affect global climate
- Draw and label a carbon cycle diagram to illustrate the pathway a carbon atom would take for a given scenario
