Topic summary
Ice-albedo feedback
Extracted from the Wikipedia article Ice–albedo feedback.
Early research
This process was soon recognized as a crucial part of climate modelling in a 1974 review, and in 1975, the general circulation model used by Manabe and Richard T. Wetherald to describe the effects of doubling CO2 concentration in the atmosphere - a key measurement of climate sensitivity - has also already incorporated what it described as "snow cover feedback". Ice-albedo feedback continues to be included in the subsequent models. Calculations of the feedback are also applied to paleoclimate studies, such as those of the Pleistocene period (~2.6 Ma to ~10 ka ago).