Yes, absolutely. There are a lot of examples of anthropogenic changes. We should try to tread lightly when we can. Fortunately, the atmospheric/oceanic system has negative feedbacks. A very simple example of a negative feedback would be if the atmosphere warmed then it could hold more water vapor which could result in more clouds but the clouds would reflect more sunlight, but the clouds can also radiate more long wave radiation back to earth. These are the sorts of things that are numerically modeled. It is very non-linear. The difference between the atmosphere warming and cooling is a difference of a few watts per square meter in the radiation budget and the solar constant is about 1300 watts per square meter. We are essentially looking at the small difference between two large numbers which is why the modeling is difficult and still an area of research.
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Originally Posted by Topspinmo
Or deforestation of the flyover states for plantation of corn and soybeans.  |