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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 5, NUMBER 10, OCTOBER 1992

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS...
GENERAL INTEREST--SCIENCE

Item #d92oct12

"Two items from Nature, 358(6385), July 30, 1992:

"An Air-Conditioned Greenhouse," G. Stephens (Dept. Atmos. Sci., Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins CO 80523), T. Slingo, 369-370.

Discusses the following paper and its bearing on the hypothesis of Ramanathan and Collins that a "natural thermostat" prevents sea surface temperature from rising above 305 K. Since cause and effect are difficult to separate, the hypothesis can perhaps only be tested fully when reliable coupled models of the ocean-atmosphere system are developed.

"Cirrus-Cloud Thermostat for Tropical Sea Surface Temperatures Tested Using Satellite Data," R. Fu (Dept. Atmos. Sci., Univ. California, Los Angeles CA 90024), A.D. Del Genio et al., 394-397.

Satellite data show that during the 1987 El Niño event, large-scale perturbations to the radiative effects of cirrus clouds were controlled by changes in large-scale circulation rather than directly by SSTs. Concludes that the thermostat mechanism involving cirrus clouds proposed by Ramanathan and Collins does not exist.

Item #d92oct13

"Several-Fold Enhancement of Biologically Effective Ultraviolet Radiation Levels at McMurdo Station, Ant-arctica, during the 1990 Ozone Hole," K. Stamnes (Geophys. Inst., Univ. Alaska, Fairbanks AK 99775), Z. Jin, J. Slusser, Geophys. Res. Lett., 19(10), 1013-1016, May 22, 1992.

Spectral measurements of biologically relevant radiation in October exceeded values expected for undepleted ozone levels by factors of three to six. The estimated dose rate for damage to the DNA molecule was well above normal levels most of the time between Oct. 1 and Dec. 5, reaching three times the normal value for a few days in October.

Item #d92oct14

"Structure of Continental Clouds before the Industrial Era: A Mystery to Be Solved," E. Mészáros (Inst. Atmos. Phys., H-1675 Budapest, POB 39, Hungary), Atmos. Environ., 26A(13), 2469-2470, Sep. 1992.

Present knowledge suggests that nearly the entire population of cloud condensation nuclei over continents is anthropogenic. If true, the nature of continental CCN before the industrial era must be clarified. Comments follow by W.G.N. Slinn, pp. 2471-2473, and by R.S. Scorer, p. 2475.

Item #d92oct15

"The DMS-Cloud Albedo Feedback Effect: Greatly Underestimated?" S.B. Idso (U.S. Water Conserv. Lab., Phoenix AZ 85040), Clim. Change, 21(4), 429-433, Aug. 1992. Discusses the DMS-cloud feedback hypothesis in light of recent claims that it is not of sufficient strength to be important.

Item #d92oct16

"GEMI--A Nonlinear Index to Monitor Global Vegetation from Satellites," B. Pinty (Lab. Étud. Rech. Teledetect. Spatiale, F-31055 Toulouse, France), M.M. Berstraete, Vegetatio, 101(1), 15-20, July 1992. Proposes a new vegetative index designed to reduce the effect of atmospheric perturbations on satellite observations, while maintaining information on vegetation cover.