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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 2, NUMBER 6, JUNE 1989

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS...
TREND ANALYSIS

Item #d89jun67

"Greater Global Warming Revealed by Satellite-Derived Sea-Surface-Temperature Trends," A.E. Strong (Oceanog. Dept., U.S. Naval Acad., Annapolis MD 21402), Nature, 338(6217), 642-645, Apr. 20, 1989.

Presents an analysis of satellite-derived sea surface temperatures for the period 1982-1988 that shows a gradual but significant warming of about 0.1° C per year, as opposed to a trend of about half that magnitude obtained from conventional data sources. Suggests that satellite global coverage can observe short-term trends that may not be discerned using the coarser-resolution conventional data. (See related RESEARCH NEWS NOTE in NEWS, this Global Climate Change Digest issue--June 1989.)

Item #d89jun68

"Relation Between Increasing Methane and the Presence of Ice Clouds at the Mesopause," G.E. Thomas (Lab. Atmos. & Space Phys., Univ. Colorado, Boulder CO 80309), J.J. Olivero et al., ibid., 338(6215), 490-492, Apr. 6, 1989.

Investigates the possibility that a substantial change has occurred in middle-atmospheric water vapor (a product of methane oxidation) as a result of the increase in methane over the past century and a half. The authors show from modeling of mesospheric ice-particle formation that noctilucent cloud brightness should be a sensitive indicator of water content at the high-altitude summertime mesopause (at a height of 85 km). The historical record shows no noctilucent clouds before 1885, which tends to support this hypothesis.

Item #d89jun69

"NO2 Observations at 45° S During the Decreasing Phase of Solar Cycle 21, from 1980 to 1987." See PROF. PUBS./ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY, this Global Climate Change Digest issue--June 1989.

Item #d89jun70

"Historical Temperature Trends in the United States and the Effect of Urban Population Growth," R.C. Balling Jr. (Dept. Geog., Arizona State Univ., Tempe AZ 85287), S.B. Idso, J. Geophys. Res., 94(D3), 3359-3363, Mar. 20, 1989.

The linear change in temperature between 1920 and 1984 is calculated for 961 stations in the conterminous United States. Annual, winter and summer maps of these temperature changes show pronounced geographical patterns, with widespread cooling in the major south-central portion of the United States and general warming in the northeast and west. Statistical analysis identified a significant warming influence associated with population change, even though small urban centers were used in the study. This influence as well as the widespread cooling observed suggests we may not yet have a proper perspective on global climatic change.

Item #d89jun71

"Urban Bias in Area-Averaged Surface Air Temperature Trends," T.R. Karl (NESDIS, NOAA, Fed. Bldg., Asheville NC 28801), P.D. Jones, Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 70(3), 265-270, Mar. 1989.

Compares a data set derived from the United States Historical Climate Network with two global land-based temperature data sets. Results indicate that in the United States the two global land-based temperature data sets have an urban bias between +0.1° C and +0.4° C from 1901-1984. This bias is as large or larger than the overall temperature trend in the United States during this time (+0.16° C). Suggests the need for a thorough global study.

Item #d89jun72

"Application of Solar Max ACRIM Data to Analysis of Solar-Driven Climatic Variability on Earth," M.I. Hoffert (Dept. Appl. Sci., New York Univ., New York NY 10003), A. Frei, V.K. Narayanan, Clim. Change, 13(3), 267-285, Dec. 1988.

A preliminary assessment of satellite measurements of solar irradiance, using data from the Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor, show that solar variability appears unlikely to have been an important factor in global-scale change over the period 1980-1984. Suggests continuous monitoring of solar flux by space-based instruments over timescales of 20 years or more to resolve issues of long-term solar variation effects on climate.

Item #d89jun73

"Long-Term Variations of Surface Air Temperature at Major Industrial Cities of India," K. Rupa Kumar (Indian Inst. Tropical Meteor., Pune-411 005, India), L.S. Hingane, ibid., 287-307.

Temperature data collected over the past 86 to 112 years and evaluated by linear trend analysis showed a significant warming trend in Calcutta, Bombay and Bangalore, with a cooling trend in Delhi. The nonindustrial stations as well as Madras and Pune did not show significant trends. In general there was either a cooling tendency or cessation of warming after the late 1950s at most industrial cities.

Item #d89jun74

"Is Canadian Cloudiness Increasing?" K. McGuffie (Dept. Appl. Phys., Univ. Technol., POB 123, Broadway, Sydney, New South Wales 2007, Aus.), A. Henderson-Sellers, Atmos.-Ocean, 26(4), 608-633, Dec. 1988.

Analyzes cloud amount records for the Canadian mid-latitudes in the context of a warming world analogue model that compares records of two 20-year periods. The cloud amounts increase over practically all these regions while temperatures rise. Station records from the Arctic show distinctive increases in total cloud amount in the last forty years, especially in the summer season.

Item #d89jun75

"Gravitational Separation of Gases and Isotopes in Polar Ice Caps," H. Craig (Scripps Inst. Oceanog., Univ. Calif., La Jolla CA 92093), Y. Horibe, T. Sowers, Science, 242(4885), 1675-1678, Dec. 23, 1988.

Isotopic ratios of atmospheric gases trapped in polar ice cores provide important data for understanding the atmospheric history of O2, CO₂, and CH₄, and the past variations in sources and sinks of these gases. This report shows that 15N and 18O enrichments are present in N2 and O2 in ice from the Greenland Dye 3 ice core. Proposes that the major fractionation process affecting these gases and isotopes is gravitational separation in the firn layer above the ice.

Item #d89jun76

"Insoluble Particles in Antarctic Ice: Background Aerosol Size Distribution and Diatom Concentration," M. Ram (Dept. Phys., State Univ., Buffalo NY 14260), R.I. Gayley, J.-R. Petit, J. Geophys. Res., 93(D7), 8378-8382, July 20, 1988.

Measured insoluble particle size distributions of radius 0.05-1.31 micron for six sections of ice core. Concluded that the southern hemisphere insoluble background aerosol size distribution in the range measured has not changed significantly over the 26,000 year period studied. Concentration of diatoms was twenty times larger during the last glacial maximum than in the Holocene ice. Suggests that higher dust levels were due to increased wind strength rather than increased continental aridity.