Last Updated:
February 28, 2007

GCRIO Program Overview

Library 
Our extensive collection of documents.

Privacy Policy

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

FROM VOLUME 4, NUMBER 5, MAY 1991

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS...
EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE

Item #d91may38

"Changes in the Solar Forced Tides Caused by Stratospheric Ozone Depletion," M.N. Ross (Space Sci. Lab., Aerospace Corp., Los Angeles CA 90009), R.L. Walterscheid, Geophys. Res. Lett., 18(3), 420-423, Mar. 1991.

Estimates the extent to which anthropogenic changes in the Earth's ozone distribution have modified the thermal forcing and strength of the atmospheric tides, finding, for example, that the tropical semidiurnal surface pressure oscillation has decreased about 3% since the beginning of ozone depletion. Also points out that relative changes in the amplitudes of the various tidal modes contain information on the latitudinal distribution of ozone loss; middle atmosphere ozone depletion affects the circulation of the upper atmosphere.

Item #d91may39

"Evidence for Long-Term Brightness Changes of Solar-Type Stars," S. Baliunas (Harvard-Smithsonian Ctr. Astrophys., 60 Garden St., Cambridge MA 02138), R. Jastrow, Nature, 348(6301), 520-523, Dec. 6, 1990.

To delimit the magnitude of solar luminosity variations on a timescale of centuries, the magnetic behavior of a number of solar-type stars were examined over several years. Indirect evidence shows that these stars undergo brightness changes of more than the 0.1% observed during the last solar cycle, a result that calls into question the assumption of a constant sun in calculations using general circulation models for climate forecasting.

Item #d91may40

"A Stop-Start Ocean Conveyor," G.A. Jones (Woods Hole Oceanog. Inst., Woods Hole MA 02543), ibid., 349(6308), 364-365, Jan. 31, 1991. Discusses a paper by Broecker et al. (Paleoceanog., 5, 469-477, 1990) which presents an updated view of the concept. Natural oscillations in the salinity of the North Atlantic may alter the ocean's large-scale circulation and its influence on climate. Although the salt-oscillator model, as currently presented, requires ice cover on the adjacent continents, it may be persisting now in weakened form and could be implicated in the Little Ice Age.

Item #d91may41

"Reduction of Deepwater Formation in the Greenland Sea during the 1980s: Evidence from Tracer Data," P. Schlosser (Lamont-Doherty Geol. Observ., Columbia Univ., Palisades NY 10964), G. Bönisch et al., Science, 251(4997), 1054-1056, Mar. 1, 1991. New long-term multitracer observations show that Greenland Sea deepwater formation was greatly reduced during the 1980s.

Item #d91may42

Comments and reply on "Integration of Space and in Situ Observations to Study Global Climate Change," by Hasse, Bengtsson and Shukla, Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 72(2), 242-245, Feb. 1991.

Item #d91may43

"Fertilizer and Climate Change," R.E. Turner (Dept. Marine Sci., Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge LA 70803), Nature, 349(6309), 469-470, Feb. 7, 1991. Fertilizers could be a source of recently deposited nitrate in polar snow rather than the fossil fuel sources put forth in papers in Nature by Mayewski et al.

Item #d91may44

"Global Nature of the Younger Dryas Cooling Event Inferred from Oxygen Isotope Data from Sulu Sea Cores," J.R. Kudrass (Bundesanstalt Geowissenschaften, Stilleweg 2, 3000 Hannover 51, Ger.), H. Erienkeuser et al., ibid., 349(6308), 406-409, Jan. 31, 1991. Data from benthic and planktonic foramnifera found in radiocarbon-dated cores combined with other data suggest that the Younger Dryas event was a global phenomenon caused by low atmospheric CO₂ concentrations.

Item #d91may45

"Satellite Observations of Polar Mesospheric Clouds by the Solar Backscattered Ultraviolet Spectral Radiometer: Evidence of a Solar Cycle Dependence," G.E. Thomas (Lab. Atmos. Phys., Univ. Colorado, Boulder CO 80309), R.D. McPeters, E.J. Jensen, J. Geophys. Res., 96(D1), 927-939, Jan. 20, 1991. Polar mesospheric clouds are sensitive tracers of upper atmospheric water vapor, can influence satellite measurements of O3, and could indicate global change.

Item #d91may46

"Sulfur in Particles in Arctic Hazes Derived from Airborne in Situ and Lidar Measurements," C.A. Brock (Dept. Atmos. Sci., AK-40, Univ. Washington, Seattle WA 98195), L.F. Radke, P.V. Hobbs, ibid., 95(D13), 22,369-22,387, Dec. 20, 1990. Arctic hazes are partly anthropogenic and may alter the radiative budget of polar regions through their effects on snowpack and clouds.

Item #d91may47

Special Issue: "Geosphere Fluctuations: Short Term Instabilities in the Earth's System," S. Cloetingh, Ed. (Inst. Earth Sci., Free Univ. POB 7161, 1007 MC Amsterdam, Neth.), Global Planet. Change, 89(3), Dec. 1990.

Contains 14 papers presented at the Alfred Wegener conference on the topic (Hamburg, Dec. 1988) as a contribution to the IGBP. They emphasize short-term changes due to both natural and artificial processes. Topics include monitoring and modeling global sea level changes, oceanic processes, the CO₂ budget, the role of volcanism, and past climatic crises as a key to the future.

Item #d91may48

"Response of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to Future Greenhouse Warming," P. Huybrechts (Geog. Inst., Free Univ. Brussels, Pleinlaan 2, B-1050, Brussels, Belg.), J. Oerlemans, Clim. Dynamics, 5(2), 93-102, Dec. 1990.

Addresses the response of the Antarctic ice sheet and presents a tentative projection of changes in global sea level for the next few hundred years, due to changes in mass balance. Assumes that the surface air temperature rises to 4.2° C in 2000 AD and remains constant thereafter. The dynamic response of the ice sheet (compared to the direct effect of the changes in surface mass balance) becomes significant after 100 years. Ice-discharge across the grounding-line increases and eventually leads to grounding-line retreat.

Item #d91may49

"Sea-Ice Anomalies Observed in the Greenland and Labrador Seas during 1901-1984 and Their Relation to an Interdecadal Arctic Climate Cycle," L.A. Mysak (Ctr. Clim. Change Res., McGill Univ., 805 Sherbrooke St. W., Montreal, Que., H3A 2K6, Can.), D.K. Manak, R.F. Marsden, ibid., 111-133. Two independent data sets indicate a 1-2° C interdecadal Arctic climate cycle comparable to a 30-year warming trend recently predicted by transient CO₂ GCM calculations.

Item #d91may50

"ISCCP Cloud Data Products," W.B. Rossow (NASA-Goddard, 2880 Broadway, New York NY 10025), Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 72(1), 2-20, Jan. 1991. For the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project, outlines data processing, main features of data products and early results, and states how to obtain data from NOAA.

Item #d91may51

Special Issue: Clim. Change, 17(2-3), 143-146, Dec. 1990.

"Interdisciplinary Research and Retrospective Satellite Data Analysis in Studying the Biosphere-Atmosphere Coupling," G. Asrar (NASA, Mail Code SE, Washington DC 20546), R.E. Murphy. (See next entry for related studies.)

Introduces eight other papers devoted to the results of studies conducted from 1985 to 1988 and sponsored by NASA as part of International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project (ISLSCP). A combination of measurement and modeling approaches have been used in deriving the biophysical, geophysical and hydrological information content of ground-based, airborne and satellite data sets. Three studies focused on the African continent and others examined the semiarid and arid environments of the southwestern and midwestern U.S.

Item #d91may52

Special Issue: "Land Surface-Atmosphere Interactions," Agric. Forest Meteor., 52(1-2), Aug. 1990. Gives more results from ISLSCP. The 10 papers--under the very broad category of modeling and satellite data analysis--cover a wide range of topics and approaches relating to quantitatively assessing the information content of satellite data in studying the land surface and atmosphere interactions. Special attention was paid to modeling physical phenomena to assess effects on the remotely sensed signal measured. This approach was adopted to overcome limitations of empirical methods and improve understanding of the underlying physical processes that contribute to formation of the remotely sensed signal.

Item #d91may53

"A Review of Satellite Data Algorithms for Studies of the Land Surface," P.J. Sellers (923, Biospheric Sci., NASA-Goddard, Greenbelt MD 20771), S.I. Rasool, H.-J. Bolle, Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 71(10), 1429-1447, Oct. 1990. Gives a summary of and recommendations from the ISLSCP Data Algorithms Workshop (Jan. 1987, Pasadena, Calif.).

Item #d91may54

"Are There Any Satisfactory Geologic Analogs for a Future Greenhouse Warming?" T.J. Crowley (Appl. Res. Corp., 305 Arguello Dr., College Sta. TX 77840), J. Clim., 3(11), 1282-1292, Nov. 1990.

Reviews the past warm time periods most often cited as analogs for a future greenhouse warming. Although paleoclimatic studies can contribute much valuable insight into mechanisms of climate change, continued efforts to identify past, warm periods as analogs rest upon often unstated assumptions that are probably not valid. The future greenhouse warming may represent a unique climate realization in the Earth's history. Future discussions of geologic analogs should be restricted to study of processes operating in the climate system; continued use of the term for past warm time periods should be abandoned.

Item #d91may55

"Role of Methane Clathrates in Past and Future Climates," G.J. MacDonald (Mitre Corp., 7525 Colshire Dr., McLean VA 22102), Clim. Change, 16(3), 247-281, June 1990.

Clathrates are ice-like compounds in which methane and other gases are caged by water molecules. This analysis indicates that with a warming of 2° C per century, clathrates in permafrost would by the year 2080 release an amount of carbon comparable to the annual production from fossil fuel combustion.

Item #d91may56

"Methane Hydrates and Global Climate," K.A. Kvenvolden (Geol. Survey, Menlo Pk., Calif.), Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 2(3), 221-229, Sep. 1989. The process of permafrost warming and release of methane from gas hydrates by global warming in the 21st century is probably small. The positive feedback of this atmospheric methane on global climates is likely to be minimal.

Item #d91may57

"Basis for Integration of Conventional Observations of Cloud into Global Nephanalyses," A. Henderson-Sellers (Sch. Earth Sci., Macquarie Univ., N. Ryde, N.S.W. 2109, Australia), K. McGuffie, J. Atmos. Chem., 11, 1-25, 1990. A new basis for the relationship between the (vertical) earthview of cloud among the (whole dome) sky cover of cloud amount has been sought by analyzing over 4500 all-sky camera photographs.

Item #d91may58

"Baseline Atmospheric Condensation Nuclei at Cape Grim 1977-1987," J.L. Gras (CSIRO, Atmos. Res., Pvt. Bag 1, Mordialloc, Victoria 3195, Australia), ibid., 89-106. Discusses the meaning of "baseline" as applied to measurements of condensation nuclei at atmospheric monitoring sites such as Cape Grim, and advocates the idea that a baseline exists only in a statistical sense.

Item #d91may59

"Quaternary Deepwater Paleoceanography," E.A. Boyle (Dept. Earth Sci., Rm. E34-258, MIT, Cambridge MA 02139), Science, 249(4971), 863-870, Aug. 24, 1990.

Reviews work from the past decade that explored changes in the circulation of the deep ocean during the interglacial cycles of the Earth's recent history. Deep-ocean sediments contain extensive records of climate history, including climate transitions that compare in magnitude with typical doubled-atmospheric-CO₂ scenarios. Deepwater chemistry and circulation changes may control the variability in atmospheric CO₂ levels that have been documented from studies of air bubbles in polar ice cores.

Item #d91may60

"A Role for Soil Microbes in Moderating the Carbon Dioxide Greenhouse Effect?" S.B. Idso (U.S. Water Conserv. Lab., Phoenix, Ariz.), Soil Sci., 149(3), 179-180, Mar. 1990. Urges more research into the microbial aspects of dimethyl sulfide production on land. This is relevant to the intertwined phenomena of global SO2 pollution, atmospheric CO₂ fertilization, and modulation of the Earth's radiation balance by clouds.

Item #d91may61

"Rain, Rainclouds and Climate," K.A. Browning, Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 116(495), 1025-1051, June 1990. A review stressing the problem of observing rain globally and discussing raincloud processes that are particularly important for climate.