The paleoclimate record contains examples of sudden large climate changes, at least on regional scales. Climate is the average weather, typically over a period of 30 years, and is determined by a combination of processes in the climate system, such as ocean currents and wind patterns. Earth is continually bathed in energy from the sun. A portion of the energy that arrives at Earth is reflected back into space, another portion is absorbed directly by the atmosphere, and the remainder moves through the atmosphere to the surface. These factors are specifically known as forcings because they drive the climate to change, and it is important to note that these forcings exist outside of the existing climate system. Earth's climate arises from the interaction of five major climate system components: the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, the lithosphere and the biosphere. The Earth’s surface temperature depends on this balance between incoming Climate forcings are a major cause of climate change.
A climate forcing is any influence on climate that originates from outside the climate system itself. Conversely, negative radiative forcing means that Earth loses more energy to space Climate Forcing. Sunlight energy heats land and water at the surface, and in turn, they emit heat. This heat provides further warming of the atmosphere. Radiative forcing or climate forcing is the difference between insolation absorbed by the Earth and energy radiated back to space. Circulation in the atmosphere and oceans is primarily driven by solar radiation and transports heat from the tropical regions to regions that receive Background . Positive radiative forcing means Earth receives more incoming energy from sunlight than it radiates to space. It is also possible that climate could undergo a sudden large change in response to accumulated climate forcing. Climate forcing is the physical process of affecting the climate on the Earth through a number of forcing factors. A climate feedback is an indirect, or secondary, change—either positive or negative—that occurs within the climate system in response to a forcing mechanism. For example, suppose that a disturbance caused global temperatures to increase. Radiative forcing is calculated in watts per square meter, which represents the size of the energy imbalance in the atmosphere. Changes to Earth's radiative equilibrium, that cause temperatures to rise or fall over decadal periods, are called climate forcings. This net gain of energy will cause warming. Examples of external forcings include: Surface reflectivity (albedo) Climate Forcing .

This indicator measures the “radiative forcing” or heating effect caused by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. An energy imbalance imposed on the climate system either externally or by human activities is termed a climate forcing (NRC 2005); persistent climate forcings cause the temperature of the Earth to change until an energy balance is restored. Data source: NOAA, 2016 1 Web update: August 2016 On the right side of the graph, radiative forcing has been converted to the Annual Greenhouse Gas Index, which is set to a value of 1.0 for 1990. When energy from the sun reaches the Earth, the planet absorbs some of this energy and radiates the rest back to space as heat. The climate system includes the oceans, land surface, cryosphere, biosphere, and atmosphere.