Latest Radiative forcing Stories

Carbon dioxide (CO2) levels reported to have reached 400 ppm at Mauna Loa Observatory sent climate change activists like James Hansen, Al Gore, 350.org and Scientific American into a frenzy but Friends of Science say solar and ocean cycles are the main drivers of climate change, not CO2. With no global warming in 16 years despite a rise in CO2, the role of declining water vapor in upper atmosphere partially negates the ‘heat-trapping’ effect of CO2. Calgary, Alberta, Canada (PRWEB) May...

NASA Science In the galactic scheme of things, the Sun is a remarkably constant star. While some stars exhibit dramatic pulsations, wildly yo-yoing in size and brightness, and sometimes even exploding, the luminosity of our own sun varies a measly 0.1% over the course of the 11-year solar cycle. There is, however, a dawning realization among researchers that even these apparently tiny variations can have a significant effect on terrestrial climate. A new report issued by the National...

In a stunning revelation, the IPCC report shows that climate models failed to predict the last 16 years wherein there was no global warming and states there is no trend in the frequency or magnitude of droughts and floods on a global scale. “The evidence shows the sun, not CO2, is the main driver of climate change,” say Friends of Science. Calgary, AB (PRWEB) December 20, 2012 The climate science critical review organization, Friends of Science, is pleased that expert IPCC reviewer...

Scientists have developed important new insight into the sensitivity of global temperature to changes in the Earth’s radiation balance over the last half million years. The sensitivity of global temperature to changes in the Earth’s radiation balance (climate sensitivity) is a key parameter for understanding past natural climate changes as well as potential future climate change. In a study in Journal of Climate, researchers from the Universities of Southampton and Bristol for the...

Carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide levels reached record highs in 2010, surpassing what experts had previously called the worst-case scenario for these greenhouse gases, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced on Monday. The WMO, which is the U.N.'s weather agency, reported that CO2 levels increased by 2.3 parts per million, to 389 ppm, from 2009 to last year, according to Reuters reporter Tom Miles. That single-year increase exceeds the average for both the 1990s...

[ Watch the Video ] NOAA’s updated Annual Greenhouse Gas Index (AGGI), which measures the direct climate influence of many greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, shows a continued steady upward trend that began with the Industrial Revolution of the 1880s. Started in 2004, the AGGI reached 1.29 in 2010. That means the combined heating effect of long-lived greenhouse gases added to the atmosphere by human activities has increased by 29 percent since 1990, the “index”...

Water vapor and clouds are the major contributors to Earth's greenhouse effect, but a new atmosphere-ocean climate modeling study shows that the planet's temperature ultimately depends on the atmospheric level of carbon dioxide.The study, conducted by Andrew Lacis and colleagues at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York, examined the nature of Earth's greenhouse effect and clarified the role that greenhouse gases and clouds play in absorbing outgoing infrared radiation....

The terrestrial biosphere regulates atmospheric composition, and hence climate. Projections of future climate changes already account for "carbon-climate feedbacks", which means that more CO2 is released from soils in a warming climate than is taken up by plants due to photosynthesis. Climate changes will also lead to increases in the emission of CO2 and methane from wetlands, nitrous oxides from soils, volatile organic compounds from forests, and trace gases and soot from fires....

By Ayash, Tarek Gong, Sunling; Jia, Charles Q ABSTRACT Sea salt aerosols play a dual role in affecting the atmospheric radiative balance. Directly, sea salt particles scatter the incoming solar radiation and absorb the outgoing terrestrial radiation. By acting as cloud condensation nuclei, sea salt aerosols indirectly modulate the atmospheric radiative budget through their effective contribution to cloud formation. Using the Canadian Aerosol Module (CAM)-Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling...

WASHINGTON -- The effect of greenhouse gases on the Earth's atmosphere has increased 20 percent since 1990, a new government index says. The Annual Greenhouse Gas Index was released Tuesday by the Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory in Boulder, Colo. Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide accumulate in the atmosphere as a result of industrial and other processes. They can help trap solar heat, somewhat like a greenhouse, resulting in a gradual warming of the Earth's atmosphere. The...