This document discusses the Earth's climate system, including its components such as external forcings from the sun and volcanoes, internal forcings from greenhouse gases, and feedback loops. It notes the greenhouse effect keeps Earth habitable and examines the climate system through time, including natural variations like El Nino that can cause droughts or floods in different regions. Graphs show Earth's energy balance, the radiation budget at different latitudes, and reconstructed global temperatures over thousands of years.

1. Stephen J. Burns
Department of Geosciences,
University of Massachusetts,
Amherst

2. The Earth System
Earth is a complex system of
interacting physical, chemical
and biological processes, and
provides a natural laboratory
whose experiments have
been running since the
beginning of time.”

3. The Earth’s Climate System
Climate Feedback
• External Forcing - Incoming solar energy drives the climate system, volcanoes
modify the climate system.
• Internal Forcing - Water vapor and other gases govern how the atmosphere
reacts to solar energy, producing the “greenhouse” effect that keeps the
Earth habitable.
Forces
Acting on
Climate Climate
Response
Impact

4. Components of the Climate System

5. Earth’s energy balance

6. The Greenhouse Effect: Feedbacks

7. 68 100

8. Radiation budget at different latitudes

17. Climate
through
time?

19. ENSO Impacts
Occur around the world
Droughts (e.g. Australia,
Africa, Brazil, Indonesia)
Floods (e.g. Peru,
southern USA)

23. Marcott et al,. 2013

26. Foster and Rahmstorf (2011)