Backscatter radiation

[Old Rocks]

Abstract
[1] We use tropospheric NO2 columns from the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) satellite instrument to derive top-down constraints on emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx ≡ NO + NO2), and combine these with a priori information from a bottom-up emission inventory (with error weighting) to achieve an optimized a posteriori estimate of the global distribution of surface NOxemissions. Our GOME NO2 retrieval improves on previous work by accounting for scattering and absorption of radiation by aerosols; the effect on the air mass factor (AMF) ranges from +10 to −40% depending on the region. Our AMF also includes local information on relative vertical profiles (shape factors) of NO2 from a global 3-D chemical transport model (GEOS-CHEM); assumption of a globally uniform shape factor, as in most previous retrievals, would introduce regional biases of up to 40% over industrial regions and a factor of 2 over remote regions. We derive a top-down NOxemission inventory from the GOME data by using the local GEOS-CHEM relationship between NO2columns and NOx emissions. The resulting NOx emissions for industrial regions are aseasonal, despite large seasonal variation in NO2 columns, providing confidence in the method. Top-down errors in monthly NOx emissions are comparable with bottom-up errors over source regions. Annual global a posteriori errors are half of a priori errors. Our global a posteriori estimate for annual land surface NOx emissions (37.7 Tg N yr−1) agrees closely with the GEIA-based a priori (36.4) and with the EDGAR 3.0 bottom-up inventory (36.6), but there are significant regional differences. A posteriori NOx emissions are higher by 50–100% in the Po Valley, Tehran, and Riyadh urban areas, and by 25–35% in Japan and South Africa. Biomass burning emissions from India, central Africa, and Brazil are lower by up to 50%; soil NOx emissions are appreciably higher in the western United States, the Sahel, and southern Europe.

The whole article is available at

Global inventory of nitrogen oxide emissions constrained by space-based observations of NO2 columns - Martin - 2003 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres - Wiley Online Library

 

[Old Rocks]

Atmospheric brown clouds are mostly the result of biomass burning and fossil fuel consumption1. They consist of a mixture of light-absorbing and light-scattering aerosols1 and therefore contribute to atmospheric solar heating and surface cooling. The sum of the two climate forcing terms—the net aerosol forcing effect—is thought to be negative and may have masked as much as half of the global warming attributed to the recent rapid rise in greenhouse gases2. There is, however, at least a fourfold uncertainty2 in the aerosol forcing effect. Atmospheric solar heating is a significant source of the uncertainty, because current estimates are largely derived from model studies. Here we use three lightweight unmanned aerial vehicles that were vertically stacked between 0.5 and 3 km over the polluted Indian Ocean. These unmanned aerial vehicles deployed miniaturized instruments measuring aerosol concentrations, soot amount and solar fluxes. During 18 flight missions the three unmanned aerial vehicles were flown with a horizontal separation of tens of metres or less and a temporal separation of less than ten seconds, which made it possible to measure the atmospheric solar heating rates directly. We found that atmospheric brown clouds enhanced lower atmospheric solar heating by about 50 per cent. Our general circulation model simulations, which take into account the recently observed widespread occurrence of vertically extended atmospheric brown clouds over the Indian Ocean and Asia3, suggest that atmospheric brown clouds contribute as much as the recent increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gases to regional lower atmospheric warming trends. We propose that the combined warming trend of 0.25 K per decade may be sufficient to account for the observed retreat of the Himalayan glaciers4, 5, 6

Warming trends in Asia amplified by brown cloud solar absorption : Abstract : Nature

No, it is not simple, but that is what makes science fun.

 

[Old Rocks]

Full text preview

Headnote
CALIPSO, with CloudSat, provides the first multiyear global view of the vertical structure of aerosols and clouds, which is crucial to determining their role in the climate system

The energy that drives Earth's climate system comes from the sunlight absorbed by the Earth. For a climate in equilibrium, there is an energy balance between this absorbed sunlight and thermal radiation to space (Trenberth et al. 2009). Aerosols and clouds affect Earth's energy budget by reflecting sunlight back to space, which cools the Earth, and by absorbing sunlight and trapping outgoing thermal radiation, which warms the Earth. Anthropogenic aerosols are known to significantly affect the net global radiation budget (Charlson et al. 1992) but quantifying the effects has proven difficult. The numerous influences of clouds on Earth's energy budget have long been the subject of study (Hartmann et al. 1992), but the need to provide measurements capable of constraining climate feedbacks places stringent requirements on observing systems (Zhang et al. 2004). The sensitivity of the climate to forcings by aerosols, greenhouse gases, and other sources is largely controlled by interactions among clouds, radiation, and atmospheric circulation (Randall et al. 1989; Wielicki et al. 1995). The need to predict these interactions has challenged both our abilities to observe aerosols and clouds globally and to represent them in global climate models.

Because both water droplets and ice crystals typically nucleate on small aerosol particles, changes in the concentration or properties of these aerosols can influence cloud formation and cloud radiative properties. Aerosols may either suppress or enhance precipitation, thus affecting the water cycle and latent as well as radiative heating. The cloud environment may also alter aerosol properties through hygroscopic growth in the humid air between clouds or through in-cloud processing of the aerosol. Clouds act to distribute aerosols by transporting particles and...

THE CALIPSO MISSION: A Global 3D View of Aerosols and Clouds - ProQuest

Satellite observations, and some conclusions and questions.

 

[Old Rocks]

Headnote
This document outlines a practical strategy for achieving an observationally based quantification of direct climate forcing by anthropogenic aerosols. The strategy involves a four-step program for shifting the current assumption-laden estimates to an increasingly empirical basis using satellite observations coordinated with suborbital remote and in situ measurements and with chemical transport models. Conceptually, the problem is framed as a need for complete global mapping of four parameters: clear-sky aerosol optical depth δ, radiative efficiency per unit optical depth E, fine-mode fraction of optical depth f^sub f^, and the anthropogenic fraction of the fine mode f^sub af^. The first three parameters can be retrieved from satellites, but correlative, suborbital measurements are required for quantifying the aerosol properties that control E, for validating the retrieval of f^sub f^, and for partitioning fine-mode δ between natural and anthropogenic components. The satellite focus is on the "A-Train," a constellation of six spacecraft that will fly in formation from about 2005 to 2008. Key satellite instruments for this report are the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) radiometers on Aqua, the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) radiometer on Aura, the Polarization and Directionality of Earth's Reflectances (POLDER) polarimeter on the Polarization and Anistropy of Reflectances for Atmospheric Sciences Coupled with Observations from a Lidar (PARASOL), and the Cloud and Aerosol Lider with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) lidar on the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO). This strategy is offered as an initial framework-subject to improvement over time-for scientists around the world to participate in the A-Train opportunity. It is a specific implementation of the Progressive Aerosol Retrieval and Assimilation Global Observing Network (PARAGON) program, presented earlier in this journal, which identified the integration of diverse data as the central challenge to progress in quantifying global-scale aerosol effects....
An "A-Train" Strategy for Quantifying Direct Climate Forcing by Anthropogenic Aerosols - ProQuest

There you have it folks, back scatter radiation is a fact for GHGs, and for aerosols. Perhaps some of the room temperature IQs on the board will take an hour or two per paragraph and achieve a faint understanding that back scatter radiation does indeed exist. Then, again, that level of comprehension on their part is doubtful.

 

[jc456]

so again, you are presenting that less LWIR will cause the surface to get warmer? All of that to make that statement. LOL. dude, you're a hoot.

 

[Old Rocks]

LOL. As stated.

 

[jc456]

LOL. As stated.

LOL back at you

 

[elektra]

Old Crock is a big idiot.

Tell us how you calculate power using the wrong formula, and then ridicule those who correct you, in light of the simply multiplication involved I do not believe you know a thing about what you just posted.

Hardly a comment or opinion posted with the huge cut/paste.

The thread of an idiot

 

[skookerasbil]

C'mon........maybe 13 people care about this all across the internet, including Crick.

I crack myself up!!!




Lets see how long this thread lasts!!!