How Global Warming Is Speeding Itself Up

Ever knocked over a line of dominoes? That first piece falls, hits the next one, and suddenly the whole thing's crashing down whether you want it to or not. Scientists are getting seriously worried that Earth's climate might work the same way—and we could be watching those first dominoes fall right now.

Researchers just identified 27 different ways that global warming feeds on itself, creating what they call amplifying feedback loops. Most of these aren't even included in climate models. The scary part? Once these loops really get going, they might keep pushing temperatures higher no matter what humans do.

When Nature Turns Against Itself

Here's how feedback loops work: something changes because of warming, which then makes the warming worse, which makes that original change even more extreme. And, round and round it goes.

Take Arctic sea ice. White ice reflects sunlight back to space, keeping things cool. But when ice melts, you get dark ocean water instead, which soaks up heat like crazy. More heat melts more ice, exposing more dark water, absorbing more heat. The whole thing just accelerates.