Radiative Forcing

During the last glacial-interglacial cycle, northern hemispheric (NH) ice-sheets experienced dramatic changes in radiative forcing, due to orbitally-driven insolation changes and varying greenhouse gas concentrations. This direct forcing caused temperature changes and eventually ablation anomalies. Orbital-scale variations in the atmospheric circulation caused anomalies in temperature advection and precipitation/snowfall that also strongly contributed to the mass balance and hence the time-evolution

Downward solar irradiance at the sea surface, measured on several voyages of an icebreaker in the Southern Ocean, is used to infer transmittance of solar radiation by clouds. Together with surface albedo estimated from coincident hourly sea ice reports, instantaneous cloud radiative forcing and effective cloud optical depth are obtained. Values of “raw cloud transmittance” (trc), the ratio of downward irradiance under cloud to downward irradiance measured under clear sky, vary from 0.1 to 1.0. Over sea ice, few values of trc were observed between 0.8 and 1.0, possibly due to the threshold nature of the aerosol-to-cloud-droplet transition. This sparsely populated region of transmittances is referred to as the Köhler gap.The instantaneous downward shortwave cloud radiative forcing is computed, as well as the time-averaged net forcing. The net forcing at a solar zenith angle of 60° is typically -250 W m-2 over open ocean, but only half this value over sea ice because of the higher surface albedo and less frequent occurrence of clouds.“Effective” optical depths τ (for a radiatively equivalent horizontally homogeneous cloud) are classified by season and surface type. The frequency distributions of τ are well fitted by decaying exponentials, giving a characteristic optical depth of 15 at 47°S, increasing to 24 in the region of maximum cloud cover at 58°S, and decreasing to 11 at 67°S near the coast of Antarctica.

Abstract. In Part I the paper summarizes how the UN/IPCC presents an incomplete and misleading picture of the Earth’s Energy Budget. How it tells us nothing about other sources of heat besides the sun, like the earth’s nuclear furnace or how oceans act like a climate moderator given its huge heat capacity. PART II presents 11 arguments against CO2 caused global warming. Explaining in simple terms and concepts, the difference between real-physical greenhouses and the misleading term of the “greenhouse effect.” It also explains the challenges posed by the concept of “Radiative Forcing.” Part III summarizes policy recommendations and procedural changes for NASA/NOAA.

Abstract. In Part I the paper summarizes how the UN/IPCC presents an incomplete and misleading picture of the Earth’s Energy Budget. How it tells us nothing about other sources of heat besides the sun, like the earth’s nuclear furnace, or how oceans act as a climate moderator given its enormous heat capacity. In PART II, 10 arguments are presented against CO2 caused by global warming. Explaining in simple terms and concepts, the difference between real-physical greenhouses and the misleading term of the “greenhouse effect.” It also explains the challenges posed by the concept of “Radiative Forcing.” Part III summarises policy recommendations and procedural changes for NASA/NOAA.

In Part I, the paper summarizes how the UN/IPCC presents an incomplete and misleading picture of the Earth’s Energy Budget. How it tells us nothing about other sources of heat besides the sun, like the earth’s nuclear furnace, or how oceans act as a climate moderator given its enormous heat capacity. In PART II, 10 arguments are presented against CO2 caused global warming. Explaining in simple terms and concepts, the difference between real-physical greenhouses and the misleading term of the “greenhouse effect.” It also explains the challenges posed by the concept of  “Radiative Forcing.” Part III summarises policy recommendations and procedural changes for NASA/NOAA.

In this paper we describe and summarize the main achievements of the European Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality Interactions project (EUCAARI). EUCAARI started on 1 January 2007 and ended on 31 December 2010 leaving a rich legacy including: (a) a comprehensive database with a year of observations of the physical, chemical and optical properties of aerosol particles over Europe, (b) the first comprehensive aerosol measurements in four developing countries, (c) a database of airborne measurements of aerosols and clouds over Europe during May 2008, (d) comprehensive modeling tools to study aerosol processes fron nano to global scale and their effects on climate and air quality. In addition a new Pan-European aerosol emissions inventory was developed and evaluated, a new cluster spectrometer was built and tested in the field and several new aerosol parameterizations and computations modules for chemical transport and global climate models were developed and evaluated. This work enabled EUCAARI to improve our understanding of aerosol radiative forcing and air quality-climate interactions. The EUCAARI results can be utilized in European and global environmental policy to assess the aerosol impacts and the corresponding abatement strategies.

In this paper we describe and summarize the main achievements of the European Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality Interactions project (EUCAARI). EUCAARI started on 1 January 2007 and ended on 31 December 2010 leaving a rich legacy including: (a) a comprehensive database with a year of observations of the physical, chemical and optical properties of aerosol particles over Europe, (b) the first comprehensive aerosol measurements in four developing countries, (c) a database of airborne measurements of aerosols and clouds over Europe during May 2008, (d) comprehensive modeling tools to study aerosol processes fron nano to global scale and their effects on climate and air quality. In addition a new Pan-European aerosol emissions inventory was developed and evaluated, a new cluster spectrometer was built and tested in the field and several new aerosol parameterizations and computations modules for chemical transport and global climate models were developed and evaluated. This work enabled EUCAARI to improve our understanding of aerosol radiative forcing and air quality-climate interactions. The EUCAARI results can be utilized in European and global environmental policy to assess the aerosol impacts and the corresponding abatement strategies.