The disposition of radiative energy in the global climate system: GCM-calculated versus observational estimates

 A comprehensive dataset of direct observations is used to assess the representation of surface and atmospheric radiation budgets in general circulation models (GCMs). Based on combined measurements of surface and collocated top-of-the-atmosphere fluxes at more than 700 sites, a lack of absorption of solar radiation within the atmosphere is identified in the ECHAM3 GCM, indicating that the shortwave atmospheric absorption calculated in the current generation of GCMs, typically between 60 and 70 Wm^-2, is too low by 10–20 Wm^-2. The surface and atmospheric radiation budgets of a new version of the Max-Planck Institute GCM, the ECHAM4, differ considerably from other GCMs in both short- and longwave ranges. The amount of solar radiation absorbed in the atmosphere (90 Wm^-2) is substantially larger than typically found in current GCMs, resulting in a lower absorption at the surface (147 Wm^-2). It is shown that this revised disposition of solar energy within the climate system generally reduces the biases compared to the observational estimates of surface and atmospheric absorption. The enhanced shortwave absorption in the ECHAM4 atmosphere is due to an increase in both simulated clear-sky and cloud absorption compared to ECHAM3. The increased absorption in the cloud-free atmosphere is related to an enhanced absorption of water vapor, and is supported in stand-alone comparisons of the radiation scheme with synchronous observations. The increased cloud absorption, on the other hand, is shown to be predominantly spurious due to the coarse spectral resolution of the ECHAM4 radiation code, thus providing no physical explanation for the “anomalous cloud absorption” phenomenon. Quantitatively, however, an additional increase of atmospheric absorption due to clouds as in ECHAM4 is, at least at low latitudes, not in conflict with the observational estimates, though this does not rule out the possibility that other effects, such as highly absorbing aerosols, could equally contribute to close the gap between models and observations. At higher latitudes, however, the increased cloud absorption is not supported by the observational dataset. Overall, this study points out that not only the clouds, but also the cloud-free atmosphere might be responsible for the discrepancies between observational and simulated estimates of shortwave atmospheric absorption. The smaller absorption of solar radiation at the surface in ECHAM4 is compensated by an increased downward longwave flux (344 Wm^-2), which is larger than in other GCMs. The enhanced downward longwave flux is supported by surface measurements and by a stand-alone validation of the radiation scheme for clear-sky conditions. The enhanced flux also ensures that a sufficient amount of energy is available at the surface to maintain a realistic intensity of the global hydrological cycle. In contrast, a one-handed revision of only the shortwave radiation budget to account for the increased shortwave absorption in GCM atmospheres may induce a global hydrological cycle that is too weak. Received: 26 February 1998 / Accepted: 18 May 1998     

Impacts of greenhouse gases and aerosol direct and indirect effects on clouds and radiation in atmospheric GCM simulations of the 1930–1989 period

Among anthropogenic perturbations of the Earths atmosphere, greenhouse gases and aerosols are considered to have a major impact on the energy budget through their impact on radiative fluxes. We use three ensembles of simulations with the LMDZ general circulation model to investigate the radiative impacts of five species of greenhouse gases (CO₂, CH₄, N₂O, CFC-11 and CFC-12) and sulfate aerosols for the period 1930–1989. Since our focus is on the atmospheric changes in clouds and radiation from greenhouse gases and aerosols, we prescribed sea-surface temperatures in these simulations. Besides the direct impact on radiation through the greenhouse effect and scattering of sunlight by aerosols, strong radiative impacts of both perturbations through changes in cloudiness are analysed. The increase in greenhouse gas concentration leads to a reduction of clouds at all atmospheric levels, thus decreasing the total greenhouse effect in the longwave spectrum and increasing absorption of solar radiation by reduction of cloud albedo. Increasing anthropogenic aerosol burden results in a decrease in high-level cloud cover through a cooling of the atmosphere, and an increase in the low-level cloud cover through the second aerosol indirect effect. The trend in low-level cloud lifetime due to aerosols is quantified to 0.5 min day^–1 decade^–1 for the simulation period. The different changes in high (decrease) and low-level (increase) cloudiness due to the response of cloud processes to aerosols impact shortwave radiation in a contrariwise manner, and the net effect is slightly positive. The total aerosol effect including the aerosol direct and first indirect effects remains strongly negative.     

UV attenuation in the cloudy atmosphere

Ultraviolet (UV) energy absorption plays a very important role in the Earth–atmosphere system. Based on observational data for Beijing, we suggest that some atmospheric constituents utilize or transfer UV energy in chemical and photochemical (C&P) reactions, in addition to those which absorb UV energy directly. These constituents are primarily volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from both vegetative and anthropogenic sources. The total UV energy loss in the cloudy atmosphere for Beijing in 1990 was 78.9 Wm⁻². This attenuation was caused by ozone (48.3 Wm⁻²), other compounds in the atmosphere (26.6 Wm⁻²) and a scattering factor (4.0 Wm⁻²). Our results for a cloudy atmosphere in the Beijing area show that the absorption due to these other compounds occurs largely through the mediation of water vapor. This fraction of energy loss has not been fully accounted for in previous models. Observations and previous models results suggest that 1) a cloudy atmosphere absorbs 25∼30 Wm⁻² more solar shortwave radiation than models predict; and 2) aerosols can significantly decrease the downward mean UV-visible radiation and the absorbed solar radiation at the surface by up to 28 and 23 Wm⁻², respectively. Thus, quantitative study of UV and visible absorption by atmospheric constituents involved in homogeneous and heterogeneous C&P reactions is important for atmospheric models.     

气溶胶大气对太阳辐射的吸收

大气气溶胶对大气吸收太阳辐射的影响有许多人研究过。目前计算大气吸收太阳辐射的数值模式多数仍忽略大气气溶胶的作用。大气气溶胶一方面本身吸收太阳辐射;一方面对太阳辐射多次散射,使阳光在大气中传输更长的路程,增加了吸收物质对太阳辐射的吸收。计算表明:大气气溶胶对大气吸收太阳辐射的作用是显著而不能忽略的。     

Comparative estimates of influence of changes in carbon dioxide,methane, nitrous oxide,and water vapor concentrations on radiation-equilibrium temperature of Earth’s surface

This paper deals with direct calculations of the radiation-equilibrium temperature profile in the Earth’s atmosphere from experimental spectroscopic data. The calculations are made for its present composition and for the modified ones, when concentration of a gas, namely, one of carbon dioxide CO₂, methane CH₄, nitrous oxide N₂O or water vapor H₂O is changed. Calculations were carried out with one-dimensional (horizontally homogeneous) radiation model proceeding from the values of absorption coefficients of atmospheric layers estimated from actual data. Calculations are carried out for small disturbances of the said gases’concentrations. Approximate estimates of large disturbance were made for the cases of total withdrawal of concrete gas from the atmosphere or, on the contrary, of large increase in its concentration.     

太阳紫外辐射在大气中衰减的探讨

在对北京紫外辐射观测资料分析的基础上,提出了参与光化学反应的物质对太阳紫外辐射能量的吸收作用.计算表明北京地区1990年云天比晴天紫外辐射减少约为21W m-2,此值与CeSS等人的观测结果比较接近.这表明了大气中参与光化学反应的物质对光化辐射能量的吸收基本上等于云对太阳短波辐射的"异常吸收"之值.所以,在辐射传输模式、大气化学模式、气候模式中,应该考虑参与光化学反应的物质对光化辐射能量的吸收作用.     

Studying air pollution with kitt peak solar flux atlas — analysis method and results of observation

For the measurement of atmospheric NO2 vertical column density (VCD), Kitt Peak Solar Flux Atlas can be substituted as an extraterrestrial solar radiation. Compared with differential analysis method, the Taylor expansion of integrated transfer equation underestimates the VCD. This underestimation is as large as 35% when the amount of NO2 is 1 × 1017 cm－2 and observation is conducted with an air mass factor of 10. Even when the VCD is 2 × 1016 cm－2 and the air mass factor is 4, the relative error of the retrieved VCD is still no less than 3%. If the observation is restricted under the small air mass factor condition (≤4), with Kitt Peak Solar spectrum as an extraterrestrial solar radiation, only an atmospheric layer of 2 km thick from ground can be studied, which will make the absorption too weak to be detected by normal instruments.The VCD in winter Tokyo area was observed and analyzed by differential method, which shows a good precision even when the absorption is as low as 3%. The largest average VCD was about 1.3 × 1017 cm－2, and the lowest was about 1.3 × 1016 cm－2. The trend of its variation was almost the same as the ground level observation by Saltzman reagent method.     

Investigation about the dependence of spectral diffuse-to-direct-beam irradiance ratio on atmospheric turbidity and solar zenith angle

Summary The modifications of the solar spectral diffuse and direct-beam irradiances as well as the diffuse-to-direct-beam ratio, E_dλ/E_bλ, as a function of the aerosol optical depth, AOD, and solar zenith angle, SZA, is investigated. The E_dλ/E_bλ ratios decrease rapidly with wavelength and exponential curves in the form E_dλ/E_bλ = aλ^−b can be fitted with a great accuracy. These curves are strongly modified by the solar spectrum distribution, which is affected by the aerosol loading, aerosol optical properties and SZA. The spectral dependence of the above E_dλ/E_bλ ratios in logarithmic coordinates does not yield a straight line, while a significant departure from the linearity is revealed. The reasons for this departure are investigated in detail and it is established that the aerosol physical properties such as single scattering albedo and size distribution along with the effect of SZA are responsible. These parameters strongly affect the scattering processes in the atmosphere and as a consequence the diffuse spectral distribution. The E_dλ/E_bλ ratio, which is an indicator of the atmospheric transmittance (King, 1979), exhibits a strong wavelength and aerosol-loading dependence. The observed differences between turbid and clear atmospheres constitute a manifestation of contrasting air properties and influence solar irradiance spectra. The present work aims at investigating the effect of atmospheric turbidity and SZA on the E_dλ/E_bλ ratio. For this reason, two distinct cases are examined: one having different atmospheric turbidity conditions but same SZA and a second having different SZAs and same atmospheric turbidity levels.     

The effects of the Arctic haze as determined from airborne radiometric measurements during AGASP II

The interaction of the Aretic winter aerosol (Arctic haze) with solar radiation produces changes in the radiation field that result in the enhancement of scattering and absorption processes which alter the energy balance and solar energy distribution in the Arctic atmosphere-surface system. During the second Arctic Gas and Aerosols Sampling Project (AGASP II) field experiment, we measured radiation parameters using the NOAA WP-3D research aircraft as a platform. State-of-the-art instrumentation was used to measure in situ the absorption of solar radiation by the Arctic atmosphere during severe haze events. Simultaneously with the absorption measurements, we determined optical depths, and total, direct, and scattered radiation fields. All optical measurements were made at spectral bands centered at 412, 500, 675, and 778 nm and with a bandpass of 10 nm. With this selection of spectral regions we concentrated on the measurement of the radiative effects of the aerosol excluding most of the contributions by the gaseous components of the atmosphere. An additional measurement performed during these experiments was the determination of total solar spectrum fluxes. The experimentally determined parameters were used to define an aerosol model that was employed to deduce the absorption by the aerosols over the full solar spectrum and to calculate atmospheric heating rate profiles. The analyses summarized above allowed us to deduce the magnitude of the change in some important parameters. For example, we found changes in instantaneous heating rate of up to about 0.6 K/day. Besides the increased absorption (30 to 40%) and scattering of radiation by the atmosphere, the haze reduces the surface absorption of solar energy by 6 to 10% and the effective planetary albedo over ice surfaces by 3 to 6%. The vertical distribution of the absorbing aerosol is inferred from the flux measurements. Values for the specific absorption of carbon are found to be around 6 m²/g for externally mixed aerosol and about 11.7 m²/g for internally mixed aerosol. A complete study of the radiative effects of the Arctic haze should include infrared measurements and calculations as well as physics of the ice, snow, and water surfaces.     

On the climate response to zero ozone

Although ozone appears in the Earth’s atmosphere in a small abundance, it plays a key role in the energy balance of the planet through its involvement in radiative processes. Its absorption of solar radiation leads to the temperature increase with height defining the tropopause and the stratosphere. Moreover, excluding water vapor, O₃ is the third most important contributor (after CO₂ and CH₄) to the greenhouse radiative forcing. Thus, the total removal of O₃ content in an Earth-like atmosphere may cause interesting response of the climate system that deserves further investigation. The present paper addresses this issue by means of a global climate model where the atmosphere is coupled with a passive ocean of a given depth. The model, after reaching the statistical equilibrium under present climate conditions, is perturbed by a sudden switch off of the O₃ content. Results obtained for the new equilibrium suggest that the model gets in a colder state mainly because of the water vapor content decrease. Most of the cooling occurs in the Southern Hemisphere while in the Northern Hemisphere the ice cap melts quite consistently. This process appears to be governed by the northward cross-equatorial heat transports induced by changes in the general circulation.     

东亚地区的大气辐射能的收支(一)——地球和大气的太阳辐射能收支

本文是讨论东亚地区大气辐射能收支研究工作的第一部分,讨论了以下三个问题: (1)本文利用文献[1]的水汽各吸收带的吸收光谱实验资料,求得了一个适合于手算的水汽对太阳辐射的总吸收能量公式(公式(6))。并把式(6)与Mugge—Moller公式进行了比较。 (2)利用公式(6),计算了东亚地区39个测站1,7月自地面到100毫巴各气层对太阳辐射的吸收能量,及其对大气的加温率。本文还进一步考虑了云的订正、大气对地面反射辐射的吸收,而求得了东亚地区对流层大气吸收能量的分布。 (3)利用1958—1960年中国地区的一些地面总辐射和反射率观测资料,以及本文计算的大气中各种吸牧能量,讨论了中国地区行星反射率的分布和地球大气系统中各种太阳辐射能的收支。     

A 1-D modelling of climatic and chemical effects of greenhouse gases

Summary A coupled 1-D time-dependent radiative-convective-photochemical diffusion model which extends from the surface to 60 km is used to investigate the potential impact of greenhouse trace gas emissions on long-term changes in global climate, atmospheric ozone and surface UV-B radiation, taking into accoont the influence of aerosol loading into the atmosphere from major volcanic eruptions, of thermal inertia of the upper mixed layer of the ocean and of other radiativephotochemical feedback mechanisms. Experiments are carried out under global and annual average insolation and cloudiness conditions. The transient calculations are made for three different growth scenarios for increase in trace gas concentrations. Scenario 1, which begins in 1850, uses the best estimate values for future trace gas concentrations of CO₂, CH₄, N₂O, CFC-11, CFC-12 and tropospheric O₃, based on current observational trends. Scenarios 2 and 3, which begin in 1990, assume lower and upper ranges, respectively, of observed growth rates to estimate future concentrations.The transient response of the model for Scenario 1 suggests that surface warming of the ocean mixed layer of about 1 K should have taken place between 1850 and 1990 due to a combined increase of atmospheric CO₂ and other trace gases. For the three scenarios considered in this study, the cumulative surface warming induced by all major trace gases for the period 1850 to 2080 ranges from 2.7 K to 8.2 K with the best estimate value of 5 K. The results indicate that the direct and the indirect chemistry-climate interactions of non-CO₂ trace gases contribute significantly to the cumulative surface warming (up to 65% by the year 2080). The thermal inertia of a mixed layer of the ocean is shown to have the effect of delaying equilibrium surface warming by almost three decades with an e-folding time of about 5 years. The volcanic aerosols which would result from major volcanic eruptions play a significant role by interrupting the long-term greenhouse surface warming trend and replacing it by a temporary cooling on a time scale of a decade or less. Furthermore, depending on the scenario used, a reduction in the net ozone column could result in an increase in the solar UV-B radiation at the surface by as much as 300% towards the end of 21st century.With 14 Figures     

Effects of tropospheric aerosols on the solar radiative heating in a clear atmosphere

Summary The broadband solar absorptivity concept is employed to parameterize the aerosol absorption effect. The solar radiation model developed by Liou and his associates was modified to incorporate the parameterization of solar radiative transfer in an aerosol layer. Comparison of the results from this method with other schemes exhibits close agreement. A Sahara dust storm case was also chosen to test the performance of the present model, and the computed heating rate profiles agree well with calculations based on optical properties derived from observations for both clear and dust cases. In general, enhanced heating due to aerosol absorption of solar flux occurs particularly in the lower troposphere (below 5 km). The heating rate is independent of the scattering partition factor (), but the planetary albedo increases with . Further study shows that the aerosol heating is sensitive to the surface albedo (r _s ) and to the cosine of the solar zenith angle (µ ₀). The decrease inr _s and/or increase inµ ₀ lower the solar heating rate, the planetary albedo and the atmospheric absorptivity, but raise the surface absorptivity due to reduced multiple reflection between the atmosphere and surface.With 9 Figures     

Potential effects of global climatic change on the phenology and yield of maize in venezuela

Simulated impacts of global and regional climate change, induced by an enhanced greenhouse effect and by Amazonian deforestation, on the phenology and yield of two grain corn cultivars in Venezuela (CENIAP PB-8 and OBREGON) are reported. Three sites were selected:Turén, Barinas andYaritagua, representing two important agricultural regions in the country. The CERES-Maize model, a mechanistic process-based model, in theDecision Support System for Agrotechnology Transfer (DSSAT) was used for the crop simulations. These simulations assume non-limiting nutrients, no pest damage and no damage from excess water; therefore, the results indicate only the difference between baseline and perturbed climatic conditions, when other conditions remain the same. Four greenhouse-induced global climate change scenarios, covering different sensitivity levels, and one deforestation-induced regional climate change scenario were used. The greenhouse scenarios assume increased air temperature, increased rainfall and decreased incoming solar radiation, as derived from atmospheric GCMs for doubled CO₂ conditions. The deforestation scenarios assume increased air temperature, increased incoming solar radiation and decreased rainfall, as predicted by coupled atmosphere-biosphere models for extensive deforestation of a portion of the Amazon basin. Two baseline climate years for each site were selected, one year with average precipitation and another with lower than average rainfall. Scenarios associated with the greenhouse effect cause a decrease in yield of both cultivars at all three sites, while the deforestation scenarios produce small changes. Sensitivity tests revealed the reasons for these responses. Increasing temperatures, especially daily maximum temperatures, reduce yield by reducing the duration of the phenological phases of both cultivars, as expected from CERES-Maize. The reduction of the duration of the kernel filling phase has the largest effect on yield. Increases of precipitation associated with greenhouse warming have no effects on yield, because these sites already have adequate precipitation; however, the crop model used here does not simulate potential negative effects of excess water, which could have important consequences in terms of soil erosion and nutrient leaching. Increases in solar radiation increased yields, according to the non-saturating light response of the photosynthesis rate of a C₄ plant like corn, compensating for reduced yields from increased temperatures in deforestation scenarios. In the greenhouse scenarios, reduced insolation (due to increased cloud cover) and increased temperatures combine to reduce yields; a combination of temperature increase with a reduction in solar radiation produces fewer and lighter kernels.A report of thePAN-EARTH Project, Venezuela Case Study.     

Long‐term variations in the turbidity of the arctic atmosphere in Russia

Abstract

Temporal variations of the transmission coefficient and aerosol optical depth of the atmosphere are considered using multi‐year observations at the Soviet polar stations in the Arctic. The contribution of atmospheric aerosol to the total extinction of solar radiation is estimated. A decreasing trend of atmospheric transparency due to the increase of aerosol contributing to the extinction of solar radiation during the last 25–30 years is noted. Estimates of the atmospheric aerosol influence on the incoming solar radiation indicate that a further systematic decrease of the transmission coefficient may lead to climatic changes of direct and total radiation in most polluted areas of the Arctic.     

干旱地区大气与地表特征对辐射加热场的影响

本文利用美国犹他大学气象系的辐射和云参数化模式，对ＨＥＩＦＥ期间张掖地区１９９１年春、夏、秋、冬四季资料进行了计算，讨论了晴天条件下的大气状况态地表反射率与地表比辐射率等因子对地气系统的太阳辐射收支以及短波加热率与长波冷却率分布的影响；揭示了不同季节的整层大气反射、透过与吸收特征，分析了大气中各主要吸收成分对加热率与冷却率的贡献，同时就辐射模式的垂直分辨率对加热率与冷却率的影响亦作了讨论。     

A Note on an improved expression for the atmospheric CO2, N2O,CH4 and O2 integral transmission function: Research note

Abstract

A new analytical expression for the integral transmission function corresponding to the uniformly mixed atmospheric gases (CO₂, N₂O, CH4 and O₂) is proposed for solar radiation models. The expression is based on the latest known spectral absorption data of the gases as well as on the Ñeckel and Labs (1981) extraterrestrial solar spectrum, which is the best currently available. The proposed formula is compared with the known expressions for the integral transmission function of the uniformly mixed gases and the results of this comparison are discussed.     

Solar absorption at the surface and in the atmosphere as determined by different observational methods

Summary The concept of effective cloud cover, elaborated on the basis of an assumption that changes in the net radiation at the top of the atmosphere are mainly caused by changing cloudiness, has been used to deduce solar surface radiation from satellite data. It has been shown that the method permits a calculation of solar surface absorption distributions that agree well with the results obtained by other authors and that the existing disagreement can be to a great extent ascribed to the differences in the data sets and analysis periods. The method allows use of early satellite measurements to get longer time series of the surface radiation budget. In this study, it has been applied to the Nimbus-7 ERB WFOV data for 1979–1986.The net solar flux at the TOA (top of the atmosphere) can be partitioned into absorption at the surface and within the atmosphere. The geographical distributions of all the three quantities as well as the zonal averages of the surface absorption for January and July have been described. Special objectives of the present study are to estimate the interannual standard deviation for the 8-year period and to analyse the shortwave cloud-radiative forcing distributions at the surface and especially within the atmosphere.The standard deviation of the TOA and the surface solar absorption shows a temporal asymmetry, being much larger in January than in July. Noticeable is the disappearance of the wintertime strong variability over the central Pacific in July. As can be expected, the strong variability areas coincide with the strong variability areas of the cloud amount, showing the values up to 27 Wm^–2 at the surface.According to our estimate, the shortwave cloud forcing at the surface is everywhere stronger than that at the TOA, so that the cloud forcing of the atmosphere is negative. This means that in the belt of 58.5° N–58.5° S a cloudy atmosphere absorbs more solar energy than a cloud-free atmosphere. Our mean annual value of the atmospheric cloud forcing for this belt is –11 Wm^–2 which is somewhat stronger than that obtained by other investigators. It must be stressed that this value is within the uncertainty limits.Shortwave cloud forcing of the atmosphere is the strongest in the lower latitude areas of heavy cloudiness above the continents and negligible in the midlatitudes in winter. This gives evidence that the value of the shortwave cloud forcing of the atmosphere is modified by a combination of cloud absorption and cloud albedo.With 4 Figures     

Variations of Total Nitrogen Oxide Content in the Atmosphere over the North Caucasus

The data are presented on total nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) content in the atmosphere from 1979 to 2009 at the high-mountain scientific station located in the unpolluted area in the North Caucasus at the height of 2070 m above the sea level (43.7° N, 42.7° E). The total content of NO₂ was measured on the basis of attenuation of direct solar radiation over slope pathways after the sunrise and before the sunset. Characteristics features are analyzed of temporal variability of total NO₂ content in the atmosphere related to its diurnal and seasonal variations, 11-year solar activity, volcanic eruptions, quasi-biennial oscillations of tropical circulation, and the El Niño effect.