Please enable JavaScript.

Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.

Feedback Loops - Coggle Diagram

- - - - When a dynamic equilibrium is lost
        
        eg Fossil Fuels increase CO2 concentration in the atmosphere, which causes ocean acidity, increasing temperatures and therefore more CO2 concentration
    - - Intensifies carbon cycle by speeding up decomposition, relasing more CO2, amplifying the greenhouse effect and therefore repeating this again.
      - Leads to melting tundra
        
        Melting faster than any other region (~2C in the past 30 years)
        
        Currently has 1600GT of carbon sequestered in the permafrost
  - - - In warmer world , evaporation increases and the atmosphere holds more vapor. The results in greater clouds cover + more precipitation.
        
        Water vapor is a greenhouse gas, as there is an increase this leads to increases aborption of long-wave radiation
        
        This leads to increases global temps
      - melting of ice
        
        exposure of dark surfaces
        
        alters albedo, causing further heating
- - - - However, increased primary production through carbon fertilisation is conditional on the availability of other requirement for photosynthesis such as sunlight, soil nutrients, nitrogen and water.
  - - - atmospheric vapour induces negative feedback, vapour causes greater cloud cover which reflects solar radiation into space smaller amounts are absorbed dropping then average temp in oceans and land
    - - this reduces transpiration losses by shedding leaves, this negative feedback loop restores the water balance and ensures the tree's survival
- - - - Melting ice: Less reflection (albedo drops from about 0.9 to 0.1) → more heat absorbed → more melting.
      - Permafrost thaw: Releases ~1,500 billion tonnes of stored carbon → more methane and CO₂ → stronger greenhouse effect.
      - Warmer oceans: For every 1°C rise, oceans hold less CO₂ → more released into the air.
    - - Plant growth: Higher CO₂ can increase photosynthesis by 10–25%, helping plants absorb more carbon..
      - Cloud formation: More evaporation → more clouds → reflect 20–90% of sunlight → cooling effect
  - - - Without increased absorption of anthropogenic carbon by oceans and biosphere, today’s atmospheric CO2 emissions would exceed 500 ppm.
    - - One possible solution to this problem is to capture and store CO2 realeased b power plants and industry. // This new technology of carbon sequestration is known as carbon capture and storage.
    - - In the UK, a CCS pilot project is underway at Peterhead in north-east Scotland.
        
        The Drax project in North Yorkshire, designed to capture 2 million tonnes of CO2 per year, commenced operation in 2019. The plan is for the carbon to be transported by pipeline to the North Sea and sorted in depleted gas reservoirs. CO2 gas can also be pumped into ‘mature’ oilfields to extract oil that would otherwise be uneconomic to recover.
      - Although the technology of CCS is feasible, its effectiveness is limited by economic and geological factors.
        This because CCS:
        
        Involves big capital costs > The Drax and Peterhead projects will cost at least £1 billion.
        
        Uses large amounts of energy > typically 20% of a power plants output is needed to separate the CO2 ands compress it
        
        Requires storage reservoirs with specific geological conditions, i.e. porous rocks overlain by impermeable strata