Diagram a climate feedback loop and see whether it is positive feedback vs negative feedback. Every arrow is signed, the signs are multiplied, and the loop is classified as amplifying or dampening.
The Climate Feedback Loop Diagram draws four curriculum climate loops — ice–albedo, water vapour, permafrost–methane and low-cloud albedo — as signed causal cycles.
Each arrow is labelled plus or minus, the signs are multiplied around the loop, and the result classifies the loop as positive (amplifying) or negative (dampening). Flip the initial nudge between warming and cooling to see every node's response flip while the classification stays put.
A positive feedback loop returns a change to its starting point with the same sign, so the original change is amplified. A negative feedback loop returns it with the opposite sign, so the change is damped. Positive does not mean good.
Sign every arrow: plus if an increase in the tail raises the head, minus if it lowers it. Multiply the signs. An even number of minus arrows (including zero) gives a positive, amplifying loop; an odd number gives a negative, dampening loop.
Yes. Zero is even, so a loop with no minus arrows — like the water-vapour and permafrost–methane loops — multiplies out to plus one and is a positive, amplifying feedback loop.
No. The classification is the product of the arrow signs, and the perturbation only multiplies through as a global factor. Cooling flips every node's response but never changes whether the loop is positive or negative.
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