Feedbacks, climate biogeochemical

While this feedback may or may not be climatically relevant, it does serve to illustrate the nature of biogeochemical feedbacks. It seems likely that many such complex systems exist, and that they may indeed be factors that influence climate. To return to the introduction to this chapter, it is not possible to rule out biogeochemical feedbacks as factors that have stabilized climate over the past ca. 10 years. 

Feedbacks may be affected directly by atmospheric CO2, as in the case of possible CO2 fertilization of terrestrial production, or indirectly through the effects of atmospheric CO2 on climate. Furthermore, feedbacks between the carbon cycle and other anthropogenically altered biogeochemical cycles (e.g., nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur) may affect atmospheric CO2. If the creation or alteration of feedbacks have strong effects on the magnitudes of carbon cycle fluxes, then projections, made without consideration of these feedbacks and their potential for changing carbon cycle processes, will produce incorrect estimates of future concentrations of atmospheric CO2. 

The Coupling of Biogeochemical Cycles and Climate Forcings, Feedbacks, and Responses... 

Hoelzmann, P., Jolly, D., Harrison, S. P., Laarif, F., Bonnefille, R., and Pachur, H.-J. (1998). Mid-Holocene land-surface conditions in northern Africa and the arabian peninsula a data set for the analysis of bio-geophysical feedbacks in the climate system. Global Biogeochem. Cycles 12,35-51. 

TEMPO (1996). Potential role of vegetation feedback in the climate sensitivity of high-latitude regions a case study at 6000 years B.P. Global Biogeochem. Cycles 10, 727-736. 

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