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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 3, NUMBER 9, SEPTEMBER 1990

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS...
EARTH RADIATION BUDGET

Item #d90sep16

"Cloud-Reflected Radiation," P.G. McCormick (Dept. Civil Eng., James Cook Univ. N. Queensland, Townsville, Queensland 4811, Australia), H. Suehrcke, Nature, 345(6278), 773, June 28, 1990. A letter discussing observations showing that the increase in the level of ultraviolet radiation due to cloud reflection is significant, with cloud type strongly determining radiation concentration.

Item #d90sep17

"A Comparison of Two Major Earth Radiation Budget Data Sets," H.L. Kyle (NASA-GSFC, Greenbelt MD 20771), A. Mecherikunnel et al., J. Geophys. Res., 95(D7), 9951-9970, June 20, 1990.

Data obtained from the Nimbus 7 Earth Radiation Budget (ERB) spacecraft mission are compared with those from the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) for several overlapping months during the period November 1984 to January 1986. Time- and space-averaged data products for April, July, and October 1985 and January 1986 show that the Nimbus 7 ERB global averages agree in the mean with combined ERBS/NOAA 9 scanner values to within 0.16% in the outgoing long-wave radiation and 0.03% in albedo.

Item #d90sep18

"Radiative Forcing of Climate by Changes in the Vertical Distribution of Ozone," A.A. Lacis (NASA Goddard Inst. Space Studies, 2880 Broadway, New York NY 10025), D.J. Wuebbles, J.A. Logan, ibid., 9971-9981.

A parameterization is used based on one-dimensional radiative-convective equilibrium calculations that predict increased surface temperature from decreased ozone above 30 km as well as from increased ozone below 30 km. Observed ozone trends suggest a cooling of surface temperature in northern mid-latitudes during the 1970s equal to about half the warming predicted from CO₂ in the same period, although uncertainty is large. Results are opposite from those obtained previously based on one-dimensional photochemical model simulations.

Item #d90sep19

"Polar Twilight UV-Visible Radiation Field: Perturbations due to Multiple Scattering, Ozone Depletion, Strato-spheric Clouds, and Surface Albedo," D.E. Anderson Jr. (Computational Phys. Inc., POB 360, Annandale VA 22003), S.A. Lloyd, J. Geophys. Res., 95(D6), 7429-7434, May 20, 1990.

Uses a synthesis of several models to investigate radiative transfer in the twilight polar troposphere and stratosphere. Perturbations on the radiation field lead to enhanced ozone destruction in the stratosphere, increased surface irradiance and a significant wavelength-dependent increase in nadir radiance.

Item #d90sep20

"Outgoing Long-Wave Radiation Computed from HIRS2/MSU Soundings," M.-Li. C. Wu (NASA/GSFC, Code 611, Greenbelt MD 20771), J. Susskind, ibid., 7579-7602.

Fields of outgoing long-wave radiation (OLR) were computed using sounding data as input to a modified version of the Wu-Kaplan radiation code used in a fourth-order general circulation model. Comparison of computed OLR fields with measured fields over this time period allows for comparison of the time and space dependence of global mean values.

Item #d90sep21

"Upwelling Diffusion Climate Models: Analytical Solutions for Radiative and Upwelling Forcing," M. Morantine (Dept. Mech. Eng., Tulane Univ., New Orleans LA 70118), R.G. Watts, ibid., 7563-7571. The transient thermal response of surface temperature due to radiation forcing of an upwelling diffusion model is found to be significantly more rapid than that of the box diffusion model.

Item #d90sep22

"Bistability of CCN Concentrations and Thermodynamics in the Cloud-Topped Boundary Layer," M.B. Baker (Dept. Atmos. Sci., Univ. Washington, Seattle WA 98195), R.J. Charlson, Nature, 345(6271), 142-145, May 10, 1990.

Explains that the observed near-constancy of cloud condensation nuclei concentrations in remote marine air is thought to be due to a balance of source and sink processes. Using a simple model of the marine cloud-topped boundary layer, solutions give two stable CCN concentration regimes. One corresponds to the low concentrations observed over the ocean, the other to the higher concentrations observed over land; each is dominated by different sink mechanisms. Both regimes have different optical properties that may be of climatic significance.

Item #d90sep23

"Satellite Observation of the Earth Radiation Budget and Clouds," R.S. Kandel (Lab. Météor. Dynamique du CNRS, École Polytech., F-91128 Palaiseau Cedex, France), Space Sci. Rev., 52(1/2), 1-32, Feb. 1990.

The ongoing NASA Earth Radiation Budget Experiment and the WCRP International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project have begun to provide new results on the role of clouds and radiation in the climate system. Offers recommendations regarding the directions to be taken in planning for the future of the global climate satellite monitoring system.

Item #d90sep24

"Effects of Tropospheric Aerosols on the Solar Radiative Heating in a Clear Atmosphere," C.M. Liu (Dept. Atmos. Sci., Nat. Taiwan Univ., Taipai, Taiwan, R.O.C.), S.S. Ou, Theor. Appl. Climatol., 41(3), 97-106, 1990.

Modifies the solar radiation model developed by Liou et al. to incorporate the parameterization of solar radiative transfer in an aerosol layer. Results compare favorably with other schemes.

Item #d90sep25

"Tropospheric Influence on Solar Ultraviolet Radiation: The Role of Clouds," J.E. Frederick (Dept. Geophys. Sci., Univ. Chicago, 5734 S. Ellis Ave., Chicago IL 60637), H.E. Snell, J. Clim., 3(3), 373-381, Mar. 1990.

Measurements obtained from several Robertson-Berger meters over the course of one year define the role of cloud cover in moderating biologically effective ultraviolet radiation at the earth's surface. The spatial structure and temporal variations exhibited by clouds pose tremendous problems for realistic modeling. However a simple approach that assumes uniform cloud cover could provide a useful description of the atmosphere when the time scale of interest is long compared to that of daily fluctuations in cloudiness.