Earth Observations from Space The First 50 Years of Scientific Achievements (2008) / Chapter Skim
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4 Earth's Radiation Budget and the Role of Clouds and Aerosols in the Climate System
4 Earth's Radiation Budget and the Role of Clouds and Aerosols in the Climate System
Pages 26-36
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From page 26... ...
Basic starting points for understanding from the measured total transport. A measurement of the total the radiation balance are measurements of the energy coming required poleward energy flux from space provides indepenfrom the Sun, the reflection and absorption of solar energy dent data that can be used to test estimates of atmospheric and by Earth, and the export of energy from Earth by the emis- ocean heat fluxes based on in situ measurements.
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From page 27... ...
data allowed isolation of the water vapor contributions to the provide multiangle, multiwavelength visible views of clouds greenhouse effect and essential validation of the water vapor that can provide important information on cloud geometry greenhouse effect in climate models. and reflective properties (Diner et al.
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From page 28... ...
It is important to monitor the energy exchange between Earth and space so that observed changes in Earth's climate can be attributed to and partitioned correctly among various causal mechanisms, including solar variability, atmospheric particles induced by volcanic eruptions, human-induced greenhouse gases, and aerosols. FIGURE 4.2 Time history of total solar irradiance (TSI)
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From page 29... ...
4-3 Longwave Cloud Forcing 1985-1986 NO DATA 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 W/m2 FIGURE 4.4 Longwave cloud forcing, the amount by which clouds reduce the escaping thermal emission from Earth, 1985-1986. Positive values indicate that clouds are reducing the thermal energy emission to space, a positive effect on the energy budget.
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From page 30... ...
4-5 indicate that clouds reduced the energy balance of Earth by reflecting more solar radiation than the amount by which they reduced the escaping infrared radiation. The bottom panel shows the fractional area coverage by low clouds as measured by the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP)
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From page 31... ...
For example, the image shown in Figure 4.6 is a cross Aerosol particles are produced naturally through biological section of the vertical distribution of radar reflectivity mea- emissions or elevation of particles by wind, but human activisured along a portion of one orbit. Also shown is the match- ties provide a substantial enhancement to the natural aerosol ing cloud mask information obtained from the combination loading of the atmosphere through agricultural and industrial of lidar and radar data.
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From page 32... ...
In addition to causing respiratory problems, the persistent haze appears to hinder crops by blocking sunlight and could be altering regional weather. SOURCE: NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response team, http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?
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From page 33... ...
SOURCE: Images courtesy of Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, and Mark Gray, MODIS Atmosphere Science Team, both at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/ images.php3?
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From page 34... ...
. This is a prime example of how the length and continuity of a given data record yields additional scientific benefits beyond the initial research results of the mission and beyond the monitoring implications for operaitonal agencies.
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From page 35... ...
. Global aerosol measurespace, and quantifying the various effects of aerosols requires ments from space are greatly improved by their validation continuous global measurement, which can best be achieved with surface sun photometer measurements (Holben et al.
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From page 36... ...
Team. Space observations have the potential to allow the esti- hemispheres, presumably due to human production of aeromation of the global average optical depth of aerosols, which sols (Husar et al.
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