Earth Sciences Forum

Andre

Some time ago I posted about the correlation of earth albedo and global temperatures

The albedo variation is digitized from Pallé et al 2006, (fig2) variation in %. The global temperature variation in tenths of degrees in in top graph is from the file HADcru3gl

Sources:

http://www.iac.es/galeria/epalle/reprints/Palle_etal_EOS_2006.pdf
http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/data/temperature/hadcrut3gl.txt

An r2 of 62% should not be neglected

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billiards · Posted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 5:21 pm Post subject:

Yes, of course, if you increase planetary albedo you lower the amount of solar radiation which reaches the planet.

Average heat reaching the Earth per unit time=pi*Re^2*(1-a)Cs.

Re=radius of earth=6371 km
Cs=solar constant=1370 Wm^-2
a=albedo

Andre · Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 11:48 am Post subject:

But the r2 also suggests that the albedo variation is the main cause for the variation in global temperatures. which would exclude other facters (ie CO2) to be the main cause.
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Charley Brown

billiards · Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 9:32 pm Post subject:

I would cautiously agree with the bit about albedo being dominant here; however, what causes the drop in albedo?

Andre · Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 10:25 pm Post subject:

Good question Jack

There are supposition about solar wind changes and condensation nuclei also changes in the ENSO pattern and other oscillations may change cloud cover patterns.

_________________
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"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia."

Charley Brown