CAS ES 351 Lecture 2: Jan. 25
1 Feb 2019
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Radiative forcing: a departure from balance in earth"s energy budget. Earth absorbs about 240 watts per square meter, so it should be sending that same amount out. Earth is absorbing about 1% more energy than its spitting out, meaning earth is going to get warmer (known as positive radiative forcing) Earth"s surface should warm up, thus sending out more energy to space, bringing the balance back (there"s a delay between the forcing and the response) Climate change is a response to a forcing. We have to use the geologic record to understand past climate to understand current forcings. Relationship between forcing and response is not always straightforward (delay between forcing and response) Peaks and valleys of the response don"t match the peaks and valleys of the forcing (graph with flame under water) Coldest time of day is right before sunset , warmest is couple hours after noon.
