Causes a system to change further in the same direction.

• A. Negative Feedback Loop
• B. Lithosphere
• C. Hydrosphere
• D. Positive Feedback Loop

Answer: (D)

Positive feedback loops amplify change by pushing a system further in the same direction. Once the initial change starts, the effects it triggers reinforce and speed up that change rather than reversing it. A classic example in environmental science is the ice-albedo feedback: warming causes ice and snow to melt, reducing surface reflectivity (albedo). Darker surfaces absorb more solar energy, causing further warming and more melting, so the process keeps accelerating in the same direction. This is exactly what the statement describes. In contrast, negative feedback loops counteract changes to stabilize systems, while the lithosphere and hydrosphere are Earth’s components, not the mechanism that propagates change in the same direction.