radiative forcing

A simple measure of the importance of a potential climate change mechanism. Radiative forcing is the perturbation to the energy balance of the earth-atmosphere system following, for example, a change in the concentration of carbon dioxide or a change in the output of the sun; the climate system responds to the radiative forcing so as to re-establish the energy balance. A positive radiative forcing tends to warm the surface and a negative radiative forcing tends to cool the surface.