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Warming oceans melt clathrates, releasing methane that warms the oceans further. What is this pattern called?
AA negative feedback loop
BA steady state balance
CA positive feedback loop
DA random fluctuation
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: C. A positive feedback loop
1. Clathrates are frozen chunks of ice and methane sitting on the ocean floor.
2. Warmer water melts them and the trapped methane escapes.
3. Methane is one of the most important greenhouse gases.
4. More methane in the atmosphere traps more heat and raises temperatures further.
5. Higher temperatures then melt still more clathrates, and the cycle repeats.
6. An effect that feeds back and strengthens its own cause is a positive feedback loop.
7. A negative feedback loop would damp the change down instead of amplifying it.
8. A steady state balance would mean no net change at all, which is not what is happening.
_Source: OpenStax Biology 1e (CC BY 4.0), Chs 44 and 46, section 44.5 Climate and the Effects of Global Climate Change_
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