1.
Mississippi River
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The Mississippi River is the chief river of the largest drainage system on the North American continent. Flowing entirely in the United States, it rises in northern Minnesota, with its many tributaries, the Mississippis watershed drains all or parts of 31 U. S. states and 2 Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains. The Mississippi ranks as the fourth longest and fifteenth largest river in the world by discharge, the river either borders or passes through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Native Americans long lived along the Mississippi River and its tributaries, most were hunter-gatherers, but some, such as the Mound Builders, formed prolific agricultural societies. The arrival of Europeans in the 16th century changed the way of life as first explorers, then settlers. The river served first as a barrier, forming borders for New Spain, New France, and the early United States, and then as a vital transportation artery and communications link. Formed from thick layers of the silt deposits, the Mississippi embayment is one of the most fertile agricultural regions of the country. In recent years, the river has shown a shift towards the Atchafalaya River channel in the Delta. The word itself comes from Messipi, the French rendering of the Anishinaabe name for the river, see below in the History section for additional information. In addition to historical traditions shown by names, there are at least two measures of a rivers identity, one being the largest branch, and the other being the longest branch. Using the largest-branch criterion, the Ohio would be the branch of the Lower Mississippi. Using the longest-branch criterion, the Middle Mississippi-Missouri-Jefferson-Beaverhead-Red Rock-Hellroaring Creek River would be the main branch and its length of at least 3,745 mi is exceeded only by the Nile, the Amazon, and perhaps the Yangtze River among the longest rivers in the world. The source of this waterway is at Browers Spring,8,800 feet above sea level in southwestern Montana and this is exemplified by the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the phrase Trans-Mississippi as used in the name of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. It is common to qualify a regionally superlative landmark in relation to it, the New Madrid Seismic Zone along the river is also noteworthy. These various basic geographical aspects of the river in turn underlie its human history and present uses of the waterway, the Upper Mississippi runs from its headwaters to its confluence with the Missouri River at St. Louis, Missouri. The source of the Upper Mississippi branch is traditionally accepted as Lake Itasca,1,475 feet above sea level in Itasca State Park in Clearwater County, however, the lake is in turn fed by a number of smaller streams. From its origin at Lake Itasca to St. Louis, Missouri, fourteen of these dams are located above Minneapolis in the headwaters region and serve multiple purposes, including power generation and recreation. The remaining 29 dams, beginning in downtown Minneapolis, all locks and were constructed to improve commercial navigation of the upper river
2.
Kaskaskia, Illinois
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Kaskaskia is a historically important village in Randolph County, Illinois, United States. In the 2010 census the population was 14, making it the second-smallest incorporated community in the State of Illinois in terms of population, behind Valley City. As a major French colonial town of the Illinois Country, in the 18th century its population was about 7,000. During the American Revolutionary War, the town, which by then had become a center for the British Province of Quebec, was taken by the Virginia militia during the Illinois campaign. It was designated as the county seat of Illinois County, Virginia, Kaskaskia was later named as the capital of the United States Illinois Territory, created on February 3,1809. In 1818, when Illinois became the 21st U. S. state, the town served as the states first capital until 1819. Most of the town was destroyed in April 1881 by flooding, as the Mississippi River shifted eastward to a new channel and this resulted from deforestation of the river banks during the 19th century, due to crews taking wood for fuel to feed the steamboat and railroad traffic. The river now passes east rather than west of the town, the state boundary line, however, remained in its original location. Accordingly, if the Mississippi River is considered to be a break in continuity, Kaskaskia is an exclave of Illinois, lying west of the Mississippi. A small bridge crosses the old riverbed, now a creek that is filled with water during flood season. Kaskaskia has an Illinois telephone area code and a Missouri ZIP Code and its roads are maintained by Illinois Dept. of Transportation, and its few residents vote in the Illinois elections. The town was evacuated in the Great Flood of 1993, which covered it with more than nine feet deep. In 2010, How the States Got Their Shapes on the History Channel featured Kaskaskia, the former Randolph County Sheriff was featured discussing different sites on Kaskaskia Island. The site of Kaskaskia near the river was first a Native American village, the historic Illini peoples lived in this area at the time of European encounter and traded with the French colonists. In 1703, French Jesuit missionaries established a mission with the goal of converting the Illini Native Americans to Catholicism, the congregation built its first stone church in 1714. The French also had a fur trading post in the village, Canadien settlers moved in to farm and to exploit the lead mines on the Missouri side of the river. Favorably situated on a peninsula on the east side of the Mississippi River, Kaskaskia became the capital of Upper Louisiana and the French built Fort de Chartres nearby in 1718. In the same year they imported the first enslaved Africans, shipped from Santo Domingo in the Caribbean, from the years of early French settlement, Kaskaskia was a multicultural village, consisting of a few French men and numerous Illinois and other American Indians
3.
Great Flood of 1993
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The Great Mississippi and Missouri Rivers Flood of 1993 occurred in the American Midwest, along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and their tributaries, from April to October 1993. The flood was among the most costly and devastating to ever occur in the United States, the hydrographic basin affected cover around 745 miles in length and 435 miles in width, totaling about 320,000 square miles. In some categories, the 1993 flood even surpassed the 1927 flood and this weather pattern persisted throughout the following autumn. During the winter of 1992–93, the region experienced heavy snowfall and these conditions were followed by persistent spring weather patterns that produced storms over the same locations. Soils across much of the area were saturated by June 1, with additional rainfall all running off into streams and rivers. These wet-weather conditions contrasted sharply with the droughts and heat waves experienced in the southeastern United States, storms, persistent and repetitive in nature during the late spring and summer, bombarded the Upper Midwest with voluminous rainfall. Portions of east-central Iowa received as much as 48 inches of rain between April 1 and August 31,1993, and many areas across the plains had precipitation 400–750% above normal. In the St. Louis National Weather Service forecast area encompassing eastern Missouri and southwest Illinois,36 forecast points rose above flood stage, the 1993 flood broke record river levels set during the 1973 Mississippi and the 1951 Missouri River floods. Civil Air Patrol crews from 21 states served more than 5,000 meals to victims and volunteers. Over 1,000 flood warnings and statements, five times the normal, were issued to notify the public, in such places as St. Louis, river levels were nearly 20 feet above flood stage, the highest ever recorded there in 228 years. The 52-foot -high St. Louis Floodwall, built to handle the volume of the 1844 flood, was able to keep the 1993 flood out with just over two feet to spare. This floodwall was built in the 1960s, to great controversy, had it been breached, the whole of downtown St. Louis would have been submerged. Emergency officials estimated that all of the 700 privately built agricultural levees were overtopped or destroyed along the Missouri River. Navigation on the Mississippi and Missouri River had been closed since early July resulting in a loss of $2 million per day in commerce. In an attempt to strand his wife on the side of the river so he could continue partying. The breach flooded 14,000 acres of farmland, destroyed buildings, the Redwood River in Minnesota began experiencing severe flooding in May. On May 22, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, received 7.5 inches of rain in a three-hour period, from May through July, Sioux Falls, South Dakota received 22.55 inches of rain, the wettest three-month period in its history. As noted above, rains in South Dakota contributed to flooding downstream, in June, flooding occurred along the Black River in Wisconsin, with flooding also starting to occur along the Mississippi, Missouri, and Kansas rivers
4.
Flood
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A flood is an overflow of water that submerges land which is usually dry. The European Union Floods Directive defines a flood as a covering by water of land not normally covered by water, in the sense of flowing water, the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods can also occur in rivers when the flow exceeds the capacity of the river channel. Floods often cause damage to homes and businesses if they are in the flood plains of rivers. Some floods develop slowly, while others such as floods, can develop in just a few minutes. Additionally, floods can be local, impacting a neighborhood or community, or very large, the word flood comes from the Old English flod, a word common to Germanic languages. Deluge myths are stories of a great flood sent by a deity or deities to destroy civilization as an act of divine retribution. Floods can happen on flat or low-lying areas when water is supplied by rainfall or snowmelt more rapidly than it can infiltrate or run off. The excess accumulates in place, sometimes to hazardous depths, surface soil can become saturated, which effectively stops infiltration, where the water table is shallow, such as a floodplain, or from intense rain from one or a series of storms. Infiltration also is slow to negligible through frozen ground, rock, concrete, paving, areal flooding begins in flat areas like floodplains and in local depressions not connected to a stream channel, because the velocity of overland flow depends on the surface slope. Endorheic basins may experience flooding during periods when precipitation exceeds evaporation. Floods occur in all types of river and stream channels, from the smallest ephemeral streams in humid zones to normally-dry channels in arid climates to the worlds largest rivers. When overland flow occurs on tilled fields, it can result in a flood where sediments are picked up by run off. Localized flooding may be caused or exacerbated by drainage obstructions such as landslides, ice, debris, slow-rising floods most commonly occur in large rivers with large catchment areas. The increase in flow may be the result of sustained rainfall, rapid snow melt, monsoons, the cause may be localized convective precipitation or sudden release from an upstream impoundment created behind a dam, landslide, or glacier. In one instance, a flood killed eight people enjoying the water on a Sunday afternoon at a popular waterfall in a narrow canyon. Without any observed rainfall, the rate increased from about 50 to 1,500 cubic feet per second in just one minute. Two larger floods occurred at the site within a week
5.
Water
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Water is a transparent and nearly colorless chemical substance that is the main constituent of Earths streams, lakes, and oceans, and the fluids of most living organisms. Its chemical formula is H2O, meaning that its molecule contains one oxygen, Water strictly refers to the liquid state of that substance, that prevails at standard ambient temperature and pressure, but it often refers also to its solid state or its gaseous state. It also occurs in nature as snow, glaciers, ice packs and icebergs, clouds, fog, dew, aquifers, Water covers 71% of the Earths surface. It is vital for all forms of life. Only 2. 5% of this water is freshwater, and 98. 8% of that water is in ice and groundwater. Less than 0. 3% of all freshwater is in rivers, lakes, and the atmosphere, a greater quantity of water is found in the earths interior. Water on Earth moves continually through the cycle of evaporation and transpiration, condensation, precipitation. Evaporation and transpiration contribute to the precipitation over land, large amounts of water are also chemically combined or adsorbed in hydrated minerals. Safe drinking water is essential to humans and other even though it provides no calories or organic nutrients. There is a correlation between access to safe water and gross domestic product per capita. However, some observers have estimated that by 2025 more than half of the population will be facing water-based vulnerability. A report, issued in November 2009, suggests that by 2030, in developing regions of the world. Water plays an important role in the world economy, approximately 70% of the freshwater used by humans goes to agriculture. Fishing in salt and fresh water bodies is a source of food for many parts of the world. Much of long-distance trade of commodities and manufactured products is transported by boats through seas, rivers, lakes, large quantities of water, ice, and steam are used for cooling and heating, in industry and homes. Water is an excellent solvent for a variety of chemical substances, as such it is widely used in industrial processes. Water is also central to many sports and other forms of entertainment, such as swimming, pleasure boating, boat racing, surfing, sport fishing, Water is a liquid at the temperatures and pressures that are most adequate for life. Specifically, at atmospheric pressure of 1 bar, water is a liquid between the temperatures of 273.15 K and 373.15 K
6.
Floodplain
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In other words, a floodplain is an area near a river or a stream which floods when the water level reaches flood stage. Flood plains are made by a meander eroding sideways as it travels downstream, when a river breaks its banks and floods, it leaves behind layers of alluvium. These gradually build up to create the floor of the flood plain, floodplains generally contain unconsolidated sediments, often extending below the bed of the stream. These are accumulations of sand, gravel, loam, silt, and/or clay, and are often important aquifers, geologically ancient floodplains are often represented in the landscape by fluvial terraces. These are old floodplains that remain relatively high above the present floodplain and it is probable that any section of such an alluvial plain would show deposits of a similar character. The floodplain during its formation is marked by meandering or anastomotic streams, oxbow lakes and bayous, marshes or stagnant pools, and is occasionally completely covered with water. When the drainage system has ceased to act or is diverted for any reason. The floodplain differs, however, because it is not altogether flat and it has a gentle slope downstream, and often, for a distance, from the side towards the center. The floodplain is the place for a river to dissipate its energy. Meanders form over the floodplain to slow down the flow of water, in terms of flood management the upper part of the floodplain is crucial as this is where the flood water control starts. Artificial canalisation of the river here will have a impact on wider flooding. This is the basis of flood management. Floodplains can support particularly rich ecosystems, both in quantity and diversity, tugay forests form an ecosystem associated with floodplains, especially in Central Asia. They are a category of riparian zones or systems, a floodplain can contain 100 or even 1,000 times as many species as a river. Microscopic organisms thrive and larger species enter a rapid breeding cycle, opportunistic feeders move in to take advantage. The production of nutrients peaks and falls away quickly, however the surge of new growth endures for some time and this makes floodplains particularly valuable for agriculture. River flow rates are undergoing change following suit with climate change and this change is a threat to the riparian zones and other flood plain forests. These forests have over time synced their seedling deposits after the peaks in flow to best take advantage of the nutrient rich soil generated by peak flow
7.
Tide
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Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon and the Sun and the rotation of the Earth. Some shorelines experience a semi-diurnal tide—two nearly equal high and low tides each day, other locations experience a diurnal tide—only one high and low tide each day. A mixed tide—two uneven tides a day, or one high, Tides vary on timescales ranging from hours to years due to a number of factors. To make accurate records, tide gauges at fixed stations measure water level over time, gauges ignore variations caused by waves with periods shorter than minutes. These data are compared to the level usually called mean sea level. Tidal phenomena are not limited to the oceans, but can occur in other systems whenever a gravitational field varies in time. For example, the part of the Earth is affected by tides. Tide changes proceed via the following stages, Sea level rises over several hours, covering the intertidal zone, the water rises to its highest level, reaching high tide. Sea level falls over several hours, revealing the intertidal zone, the water stops falling, reaching low tide. Oscillating currents produced by tides are known as tidal streams, the moment that the tidal current ceases is called slack water or slack tide. The tide then reverses direction and is said to be turning, slack water usually occurs near high water and low water. But there are locations where the moments of slack tide differ significantly from those of high, Tides are commonly semi-diurnal, or diurnal. The two high waters on a day are typically not the same height, these are the higher high water. Similarly, the two low waters each day are the low water and the lower low water. The daily inequality is not consistent and is small when the Moon is over the equator. From the highest level to the lowest, Highest Astronomical Tide – The highest tide which can be predicted to occur, note that meteorological conditions may add extra height to the HAT. Mean High Water Springs – The average of the two high tides on the days of spring tides, mean High Water Neaps – The average of the two high tides on the days of neap tides. Mean Sea Level – This is the sea level
8.
Wind wave
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In fluid dynamics, wind waves, or wind-generated waves, are surface waves that occur on the free surface of bodies of water. They result from the wind blowing over an area of fluid surface, Waves in the oceans can travel thousands of miles before reaching land. Wind waves on Earth range in size from small ripples, to waves over 100 ft high, when directly generated and affected by local winds, a wind wave system is called a wind sea. After the wind ceases to blow, wind waves are called swells, more generally, a swell consists of wind-generated waves that are not significantly affected by the local wind at that time. They have been generated elsewhere or some time ago, wind waves in the ocean are called ocean surface waves. Wind waves have an amount of randomness, subsequent waves differ in height, duration. The key statistics of wind waves in evolving sea states can be predicted with wind wave models, although waves are usually considered in the water seas of Earth, the hydrocarbon seas of Titan may also have wind-driven waves. The great majority of large breakers seen at a result from distant winds. Water depth All of these work together to determine the size of wind waves. Further exposure to that wind could only cause a dissipation of energy due to the breaking of wave tops. Waves in an area typically have a range of heights. For weather reporting and for analysis of wind wave statistics. This figure represents an average height of the highest one-third of the waves in a time period. The significant wave height is also the value a trained observer would estimate from visual observation of a sea state, given the variability of wave height, the largest individual waves are likely to be somewhat less than twice the reported significant wave height for a particular day or storm. Wave formation on a flat water surface by wind is started by a random distribution of normal pressure of turbulent wind flow over the water. This pressure fluctuation produces normal and tangential stresses in the surface water and it is assumed that, The water is originally at rest. There is a distribution of normal pressure to the water surface from the turbulent wind. Correlations between air and water motions are neglected, the second mechanism involves wind shear forces on the water surface
9.
Danube
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The Danube is Europes second-longest river, after the Volga River, and also the longest river in the European Union region. It is located in Central and Eastern Europe, the Danube was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire, and today flows through 10 countries, more than any other river in the world. Its drainage basin extends into nine more countries, the Latin name Dānuvius is one of a number of Old European river names derived from a Proto-Indo-European *dānu. Other river names from the root include the Dunajec, Dzvina/Daugava, Don, Donets, Dnieper, Dniestr. In Rigvedic Sanskrit, dānu means fluid, drop, in Avestan, in the Rigveda, Dānu once appears as the mother of Vrtra. Known to the ancient Greeks as the Istros a borrowing from a Daco-Thracian name meaning strong, in Latin, the Danube was variously known as Danubius, Danuvius or as Ister. The Dacian/Thracian name was Donaris for the upper Danube and Istros for the lower Danube, the Thraco-Phrygian name was Matoas, the bringer of luck. The Latin name is masculine, as are all its Slavic names, the German Donau is feminine, as it has been re-interpreted as containing the suffix -ouwe wetland. Classified as a waterway, it originates in the town of Donaueschingen, in the Black Forest of Germany, at the confluence of the rivers Brigach. The Danube then flows southeast for about 2,800 km, passing through four capital cities before emptying into the Black Sea via the Danube Delta in Romania and its drainage basin extends into nine more. The highest point of the basin is the summit of Piz Bernina at the Italy–Switzerland border. The land drained by the Danube extends into other countries. Many Danubian tributaries are important rivers in their own right, navigable by barges, from its source to its outlet into the Black Sea, its main tributaries are, The Danube flows through many cities, including four national capitals, more than any other river in the world. Danube remains a mountain river until Passau, with average bottom gradient 0. 0012%. Middle Section, From Devín Gate to Iron Gate, at the border of Serbia and Romania, the riverbed widens and the average bottom gradient becomes only 0. 00006%. Lower Section, From Iron Gate to Sulina, with average gradient as little as 0. 00003%, about 60 of its tributaries are also navigable. In 1994 the Danube was declared one of ten Pan-European transport corridors, routes in Central, the amount of goods transported on the Danube increased to about 100 million tons in 1987. In 1999, transport on the river was difficult by the NATO bombing of three bridges in Serbia during the Kosovo War
10.
Passau
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Passau is a town in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is also known as the Dreiflüssestadt or City of Three Rivers, because the Danube is joined at Passau by the Inn from the south, passaus population is 50,000 of whom about 12,000 are students at the local University of Passau. It is renowned in Germany for its institutes of economics, law, theology, computer science, in the 2nd century BC, many of the Boii tribe were pushed north across the Alps out of northern Italy by the Romans. They established a new capital called Boiodurum by the Romans, now within the Innstadt district of Passau, Passau was an ancient Roman colony of ancient Noricum called Batavis, Latin for for the Batavi. The Batavi were an ancient Germanic tribe often mentioned by authors, and they were regularly associated with the Suebian marauders. During the second half of the 5th century, St. Severinus established a monastery here, from the 10th century the bishops of Passau also exercised secular authority as Prince-Bishops in the immediate area around Passau. In the Treaty of Passau, Archduke Ferdinand I, representing Emperor Charles V and this led to the Peace of Augsburg in 1555. During the Renaissance and early period, Passau was one of the most prolific centres of sword. Passau smiths stamped their blades with the Passau wolf, usually a rather simplified rendering of the wolf on the citys coat-of-arms, superstitious warriors believed that the Passau wolf conferred invulnerability on the blades bearer, and thus Passau swords acquired a great premium. According to the Donau-Zeitung, aside from the wolf, some signs and inscriptions were added. As a result, the practice of placing magical charms on swords to protect the wearers came to be known for a time as Passau art. Other cities smiths, including those of Solingen, recognized the value of the Passau wolf. By the 17th century, Solingen was producing more wolf-stamped blades than Passau was, in 1662, a devastating fire consumed most of the city. Passau was subsequently rebuilt in the Baroque style, Passau was secularised and divided between the Electorate of Bavaria and the Electorate of Salzburg in 1803. The portion belonging to Salzburg became part of Bavaria in 1805, from 1892 until 1894, Adolf Hitler and his family lived in Passau. The city archives mention Hitler being in Passau on four different occasions in the 1920s for speeches, on November 3,1902 Heinrich Himmler and his family arrived from Munich. They lived at Theresienstraße 394 until September 2,1904, Himmler maintained contact with locals until May 1945. In November 1933, the building of Nibelungenhalle was announced, intended to hold 8,000 to 10,000 guests, and another 30,000 in front of it, in 1935 the hall also became quarters for a unit of the Austrian Legion
11.
Coastal flood
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Coastal flooding occurs when normally dry, low-lying land is flooded by seawater. The extent of flooding is a function of the elevation inland flood waters penetrate which is controlled by the topography of the coastal land exposed to flooding. The height of the waves exceeds the height of the barrier and water flows over the top of the barrier to flood the land behind it, overtopping can result in high velocity flows that can erode significant amounts of the land surface which can undermine defense structures. Breaching of a barrier — again the barrier may be natural or human engineered, breaching is where the barrier is broken down by waves allowing the seawater to extend inland. Coastal flooding is largely a natural event, however human influence on the environment can exacerbate coastal flooding. Extraction of water from reservoirs in the coastal zone can enhance subsidence of the land increasing the risk of flooding. Coastal flooding can result from a variety of different causes including storm surges created by storms like hurricanes and tropical cyclones, rising sea levels due to climate change and by tsunamis. Storms can cause flooding through storm surges which are significantly larger than normal. This is known as set up. Low atmospheric pressure is associated with systems and this tends to increase the surface sea level. Finally increased wave break height results in a water level in the surf zone which is wave set up. Theses three processes interact to create waves that can overtop natural and engineered coastal protection structures thus penetrating seawater further inland than normal, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimate global mean sea-level rise from 1990 to 2100 to be between nine and eighty eight centimetres. It is also predicted that climate change there will be an increase in the intensity. This suggests that coastal flooding from storm surges will become more frequent with sea level rise, a rise in sea level alone threatens increased levels of flooding and permanent inundation of low-lying land as sea level simply may exceed the land elevation. There is also evidence to suggest that significant tsunami have been caused in the past by meteor impact into the ocean and it has been said that one way to prevent significant flooding of coastal areas now and into the future is by reducing global sea level rise. This could be minimised by reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, even if significant emission decreases are achieved there is already a substantial commitment to sea level rise into the future, international climate change policies such as the Kyoto Protocol are seeking to mitigate the future effects of climate change, including sea level rise. In addition to this, more immediate measures of engineered and natural defences are put in place to prevent coastal flooding, there are a variety of ways in which humans are trying to prevent the flooding of coastal environments
12.
Climate change
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Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns when that change lasts for an extended period of time. Climate change may refer to a change in weather conditions. Climate change is caused by such as biotic processes, variations in solar radiation received by Earth, plate tectonics. Certain human activities have also identified as significant causes of recent climate change. Scientists actively work to understand past and future climate by using observations, more recent data are provided by the instrumental record. The most general definition of change is a change in the statistical properties of the climate system when considered over long periods of time. Accordingly, fluctuations over periods shorter than a few decades, such as El Niño, the term climate change is often used to refer specifically to anthropogenic climate change. Anthropogenic climate change is caused by activity, as opposed to changes in climate that may have resulted as part of Earths natural processes. In this sense, especially in the context of environmental policy, within scientific journals, global warming refers to surface temperature increases while climate change includes global warming and everything else that increasing greenhouse gas levels affect. A related term is climatic change, in 1966, the World Meteorological Organization proposed the term climatic change to encompass all forms of climatic variability on time-scales longer than 10 years, regardless of cause. Change was a given and climatic was used as an adjective to describe this kind of change, when it was realized that human activities had a potential to drastically alter the climate, the term climate change replaced climatic change as the dominant term to reflect an anthropogenic cause. Climate change was incorporated in the title of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Climate change, used as a noun, became an issue rather than the technical description of changing weather. On the broadest scale, the rate at which energy is received from the Sun and this energy is distributed around the globe by winds, ocean currents, and other mechanisms to affect the climates of different regions. Factors that can shape climate are called climate forcings or forcing mechanisms, there are a variety of climate change feedbacks that can either amplify or diminish the initial forcing. Some parts of the system, such as the oceans and ice caps, respond more slowly in reaction to climate forcings. There are also key factors which when exceeded can produce rapid change. Forcing mechanisms can be internal or external. Internal forcing mechanisms are natural processes within the system itself
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