forcing

Etymology

noun

1. (horticulture) The art of raising plants at an earlier season than is normal, especially by using a hotbed
2. (photography) An extension in the development time of an underexposed negative in order to bring out detail
3. (set theory) A technique used to prove the consistency of certain axioms in set theory. See forcing (mathematics).
4. (climatology, countable) The net flux of energy in or out of a system; the net change in an energy balance.
   orbital / astronomical forcing (effect on climate of slow changes in the tilt of Earth's axis and shape of its orbit)
   1991, Alfred George Fischer, Orbital forcing and sedimentary sequences: a special issue:
   […] in improving the transfer function of these proxy data and in modelling the response of the climate system to the astronomical forcing over the last 3 Ma with a particular attention paid to the phase relations between insolation,[…] 1991, Frederik Johan Hilgen, Astronomical Forcing and Geochronological Application of Sedimentary Cycles in the Mediterranean Pliocene-Pleistocene, Faculteit Aardwetenschappen Der Rijksuniversiteit Te Utrecht
   Franz Kuhnert, 18881 2.1 WHY ASTRONOMICAL FORCING? In the 1840s, James Croll assumed that the ice ages were driven by changes in the orbit of the Earth. The astronomical origin was likewise taken as natural by Milutin Milankovitch,[…] 2002-08-26, Richard A. Muller, Gordon J. MacDonald, Ice Ages and Astronomical Causes: Data, Spectral Analysis and Mechanisms, Springer Science & Business Media, page 19
   The astronomic forcing of climate In the course of its 4.5 billion-year history, Earth's climate has been relatively warm for about 90% of the time. Climate has changed on long time scales in response to the evolution of the Sun and[…] 2006-03-30, Martin Beniston, Climatic Change and Its Impacts: An Overview Focusing on Switzerland, Springer Science & Business Media, page 53
   […] the 100,000-yr periodicity observed in climate fluctuations may result from the combined effect of a weak (deterministic) astronomic forcing and background environmental noise in a complex, nonlinear system with internal feedbacks. 2011-06-20, Luca Ridolfi, Paolo D'Odorico, Francesco Laio, Noise-Induced Phenomena in the Environmental Sciences, Cambridge University Press, page 156
   2017, Caroline Louise Prescott, Orbital Forcing and Its Importance in Understanding the Warm Pliocene:

verb

1. present participle and gerund of force

adj

1. (bridge) Pertaining to a bid which requires partner to continue bidding rather than pass.