P1.7 Measurements of The Radiative Surface Forcing of Climate
P1.7 Measurements of The Radiative Surface Forcing of Climate
P1.7 Measurements of The Radiative Surface Forcing of Climate
1. INTRODUCTION
One
of
the
most
pressing
environmental issues encountered in this
present century is that concerning the global
warming of the earths surface. This change
may have a detrimental impact on society as
a whole, and particularly on human health,
ecology and, consequentially, on economical
viability.
Over the past century the world has
been getting warmer; an average 0.7C
increase has been observed in the global
land-surface temperature records (IPCC,
2001) and the past decade has been the
warmest yet since records were first kept.
The potential impact that global warming has
on society is extensive, particularly through
the associated change in climate that has
been predicted by many sophisticated climate
models. The areas that may be affected the
most by global warming include: water and
coastal resources, health, agriculture,
fisheries, forests and energy (Canadas
Second National Report on Climate Change,
1997).
In order to investigate this global
threat, an ongoing program of measurements
of the downward atmospheric infrared
radiation, otherwise known as the greenhouse radiation of the atmosphere, was
undertaken
at
Trent
University
in
Peterborough,
Ontario
(44oN,
78oW).
.
.
*Corresponding author address: W.F.J. Evans,
Northwest Research Associates, 14508 NE 20th Street,
Bellevue, WA 98007; email: [email protected]
H2O
90
CO2
~50
CH4
1.7
N2O
1.3
Tropospheric O3
1.3
CFC-12
0.16
CFC-11
0.062
Note: The modelled forcing for the first five gases is based on
the work of Dickinson and Cicerone (1986), and the forcing
attributed to the CFCs is based on the IPCC report (1995).
6e-6
H2O
H2O
4e-7
-1
Radiance (W/(cm sr cm ))
8e-6
H2O
CO2
3e-7
4e-6
2e-7
CFC11
CO 2
CFC12
HNO 3
2e-6
O3
N 2O
CH 4
HNO3
1e-7
CO
0
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
2000
-1
Wavenumber (cm )
0e+0
900
905
910
915
920
925
930
935
940
Wavenumber (cm-1)
Emission
Band (cm-1)
Measured
Flux
(W/m2)
Simulated
Flux
(W/m2)
CFC11
830 860
0.14
0.12
CFC12
900 940
0.12
0.11
CFC12
all bands
0.28
0.26
CFC11 & 12
all bands
0.42
0.38
CCl4
786 806
0.046
0.039
CFC113
800 830
NA
0.033
HCFC22
780 830
NA
0.031
HNO3
850 920
0.085
0.060
N2O
all bands
1.06
0.99
CH4
1200 1400
0.85
0.80
CO
2000 2200
0.032
0.033
CO2
all bands
26.0
24.8
O3
950 1100
3.26
3.20
Trop. O3
950 1100
0.61
0.58
1.4e-5
1.2e-5
1.0e-5
June 5, 1998
8.0e-6
6.0e-6
4.0e-6
CO2
2.0e-6
0.0
CH4
CFC-11
HNO3 CFC-12
700
800
900
O3
1000
N 2O
1100
1200
1300
Wavenumber (cm-1)
Greenhouse Winter
Fluxes
Gas
1999
CFC11
CFC12
HNO3
CH4
N2O
O3
H2O
CO2
0.13
0.24
0.061
1.30
1.34
3.03
94.1
(W/m2)
2000
Past
0.10
0.22
0.065
1.29
1.41
3.17
105.4
34.7
0.14
0.28
0.052
0.96
1.04
3.27
125
30.9
Total
1400
0.15
0.29
0.075
1.16
1.14
2.57
178
0.11
0.24
0.063
0.60
0.64
2.47
256
10.5
Past
0.15
0.27
0.066
1.08
0.89
2.61
251
10.5
Measured Flux
2
Increase (W/m )
CO2
2.10
1.30
CH4
0.38
0.33
N2O
0.15
0.13
Trop. O3
0.40
0.40
CFC11
0.14
0.14
CFC12
0.28
0.28
CFC113
0.00
0.033
HCFC22
0.031
0.031
CCl4
0.046
0.046
Total
3.52
2.55 (-3.1)
Total
4. CONCLUSIONS
Measurements of the downward
radiative flux have been made for several
important greenhouse gases. At mid-latitudes
in summer as compared to winter, our
measurements show that the downward
surface flux from H2O has doubled to 200
W/m2. The water increase causes a reduction
of the fluxes from the other greenhouse
gases. These measurements show that the
greenhouse effect from trace gases in the
atmosphere is real and adds significantly to
the radiative burden of the atmosphere. The
greenhouse radiation has increased by
approximately 3.52 W/m2 since pre-industrial
times.
This compares favorably with a modeled
prediction of 2.55 W/m2. Measurements such
as these can provide a means by which to
verify the predictions made by global warming
models (Puckrin et al; 2004).
Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge the
generous financial support of Enbridge for
this work, and the Canadian Foundation for
Climate and Atmospheric Science for a grant.
We would like to express our thanks to J.H.
Chetwynd (AFGL/PL) for supplying the
FASCOD3 algorithm.
References
Anderson, G.P., S.A. Clough, F.X. Kneizys, J.H.
Chetwynd and E.P. Shettle, "AFGL Atmospheric
Constituent Profiles (0-120 km)", AFGL-TR-86-0110,
(Optical Physics Div., Air Force Geophysics Laboratory,
Hanscom AFB, MA) 1986.
Canadas Second National Report on Climate Change,
Actions to meet commitments under the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change, issued by
Environment Canada, ISBN 0-662-25665-4, Cat. no.
En21-125/1997E, 1997.
Clough, S.A., F.X. Kneizys, G.P. Anderson, E.P.
Shettle, J.H. Chetwynd, L.W. Abreu and L.A. Hall,
1988: IRS 88: Current Problems in Atmospheric
Radiation, J. Lenoble and J.F. Geleyn, Eds., A. Deepak,
372-375.
Dickinson, R.E. and R.J. Cicerone, Future global
warming from atmospheric trace gases, Nature, 319,
109-115, 1986.
Ellingson, R.G., J. Ellis and S. Fels, The
intercomparison of radiation codes used in climate
models: longwave results, J. Geophys. Res., 96, 89298953, 1991.
Evans, W.F.J., and E. Puckrin, An observation of the
atmospheric emission spectrum of CFC-11, Geophys.
Res. Lett., 21, 2381-2384, 1994.
Evans, W.F.J. and E. Puckrin, An observation of the
atmospheric
thermal
emission
spectrum
of
dichlorodifluoromethane, Can. J. Appl. Spectrosc., 39,
85-90, 1994.
Evans, W.F.J. and E. Puckrin, The measurement and
extraction of the 6 atmospheric emission band of CFC12 from interfering emission features, Ann.
Geophysicae, 13, 969-972, 1995.
Evans, W.F.J. and E. Puckrin, A measurement of the
greenhouse
radiation
associated
with
carbon
tetrachloride (CCl4), Geophys. Res. Lett., 23, 17691772, 1996.
Reck,
and
M.
Schlesinger,
Climate-chemical
interactions and effects of changing atmospheric trace
gases, Rev. Geophys., 25, 1441-1487, 1987.
Rothman, L.S., R.R. Gamache, R.H. Tipping, C.P.
Rinsland, M.A.H. Smith, D.C. Benner, V. M. Devi, J.-M.
Flaud, C. Camy-Peyret, A. Perrin, A. Goldman, S.T.
Massie, L.R. Brown and R.A. Toth, 1992: The HITRAN
molecular database: editions of 1991 and 1992, J.
Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transfer, 48, 469-507.
Sinha, A. and R. Toumi, A Comparison of climate
forcings
due to chlorofluorocarbons and carbon
monoxide, Geophys. Res. Lett., 23, 65-68, 1996.
T
a
e
7
e
a
s
e
d
G
e
e