AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Editors' Highlight

Surface temperatures in China will increase despite a decrease in insolation

During the latter half of the twentieth century, China experienced an increase in surface temperature despite a decrease in insolation, which is the incoming solar radiation that reaches the surface. To understand the causes of this, Rangwala et al. (2006) used observational data and global climate model simulations to examine trends in several climate variables, including surface insolation, surface air temperature, cloud cover, surface vapor and air pressure, and evaporation. On the basis of the model the downward trend in insolation is expected to continue as more sulfate pollutants and other man-made aerosols, which scatter incoming solar radiation, are released by industries. However, surface temperatures are, nonetheless, modeled to increase. The authors suggested that both past and future warming are linked with an increase in downward longwave radiation, which is the radiation directed toward the surface that is emitted by the atmosphere itself. This increase in longwave radiation occurs partly in response to water vapor feedbacks triggered by the increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gases that warm the surface.

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