Affiliation:
1. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964, USA.
2. NASA/Goddard Institute for Space Studies, 2880 Broadway, New York, NY 10025, USA.
Abstract
Satellite observations suggest that the thermal radiation emitted by Earth to space increased by more than 5 watts per square meter, while reflected sunlight decreased by less than 2 watts per square meter, in the tropics over the period 1985–2000, with most of the increase occurring after 1990. By analyzing temporal changes in the frequency of occurrence of emitted thermal and reflected solar fluxes, the effects of El Niño–Southern Oscillation are minimized, and an independent longer-time-scale variation of the radiation budget is identified. Similar analyses of upper tropospheric humidity, cloud amount, surface air temperature, and vertical velocity confirm that these flux changes are associated with a decadal-time-scale strengthening of the tropical Hadley and Walker circulations. Equatorial convective regions have intensified in upward motion and moistened, while both the equatorial and subtropical subsidence regions have become drier and less cloudy.
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Reference26 articles.
1. Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES): An Earth Observing System Experiment
2. The Earth Radiation Budget Experiment: Science and implementation
3. Evidence for Large Decadal Variability in the Tropical Mean Radiative Energy Budget
4. . Wielicki et al. analyze the 20°S–20°N latitude range whereas we consider the 30°S–30°N region. Thus the details of our time series trends and theirs are slightly different.
5. For additional information on the CERES TRMM data see CERES ES4 TRMM Data Quality Summary ().
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