Climate sensitivity
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Climate sensitivity is a key measure in climate science and describes how much Earth's surface will warm in response to a doubling of the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration. Its formal definitio
Artist impression of a Snowball Earth.
Radiative forcing
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Radiative forcing is a concept used to quantify a change to the balance of energy flowing through a planetary atmosphere. Various factors contribute to this change in energy balance, such as concentra
Climate sensitivity
…heat radiation to space) must balance, or the planet will get warmer or cooler. An imbalance between incoming and outgoing radiation energy is called radiative forcing. A warmer planet radiates heat to space faster and so a new balance is eventually reached, with a higher temperature and stored energy content. However…
NASA Earth Science Division Operating Missions