CAS BI 306 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Outgoing Longwave Radiation, Cloud Albedo, Shortwave Radiation
11 Feb 2018
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Document Summary
Ipcc was developed in 1988 to provide a clear understanding of scientific knowledge to the government about climate change and options for adaptation and mitigation. Scientific hypotheses are always evolving and open to revision based on new findings. All reports in the ipcc are peer reviewed. Weather--condition in atmosphere at certain time and place; cloud cover, precipitation, temperature, wind velocity. Earth"s climate system is powered by solar radiation. The sun provides its energy primarily to tropics and subtropics and that energy is distributed to higher latitudes through atmospheric and oceanic transport processes. Earth"s energy budget is influenced by changes in net incoming solar radiation or changes in outgoing longwave radiation (changes in outgoing radiation due to ghg increase in atmosphere, cloud cover, and changes in aerosol concentrations) Some aerosols increase atmospheric reflectivity while other are strong absorbers of shortwave radiation. Affect cloud albedo because some aerosols serve as condensation nuclei or ice nuclei. Clouds play an important role in albedo.
