Response time or adjustment time (Q961)
Subject, term, tag: Response time or adjustment time
- Response time or adjustment time (Ta)
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Response time or adjustment time |
Subject, term, tag: Response time or adjustment time |
|
Statements
IPCC Glossary v1.5
1 reference
27 May 2026
In the context of climate variations, the response time or adjustment time is the time needed for the climate system or its components to re-equilibrate to a new state, following a forcing resulting from external processes. It is very different for various components of the climate system. The response time of the troposphere is relatively short, from days to weeks, whereas the stratosphere reaches equilibrium on a time scale of typically a few months. Due to their large heat capacity, the oceans have a much longer response time: typically decades, but up to centuries or millennia. The response time of the strongly coupled surface–troposphere system is, therefore, slow compared to that of the stratosphere, and mainly determined by the oceans. The biosphere may respond quickly (e.g., to droughts), but also very slowly to imposed changes. In the context of lifetimes, response time or adjustment time (T a) is the time scale characterizing the decay of an instantaneous pulse input into the reservoir. See Response time or adjustment time (Ta) under Lifetime. (English)
IPCC Glossary v1.5
1 reference
27 May 2026