Global Physical Climatology (eBook)

Front Cover 1
Global Physical Climatology 4
Copyright Page 5
Contents 6
Preface 10
Chapter 1. Introduction to the Climate System 14
1.1 Atmosphere, Ocean, and Land Surface 14
1.2 Atmospheric Temperature 15
1.3 Atmospheric Composition 21
1.4 Hydrostatic Balance 22
1.5 Atmospheric Humidity 24
1.6 The World Ocean 25
1.7 The Cryosphere 27
1.8 The Land Surface 28
Exercises 30
Chapter 2. The Global Energy Balance 31
2.1 Warmth and Energy 31
2.2 The Solar System 31
2.3 Energy Balance of Earth 34
2.4 Emission Temperature of a Planet 37
2.5 Greenhouse Effect 39
2.6 Global Radiative Flux Enery Balance 40
2.7 Distribution of Insolation 41
2.8 The Energy Balance at the Top of the Atmosphere 45
2.9 Poleward Energy Flux 47
Exercises 52
Chapter 3. Atmospheric Radiative Transfer and Climate 53
3.1 Photons and Minority Constituents 53
3.2 The Nature of Electromagnetic Radiation 54
3.3 Description of Radiative Energy 54
3.4 Planck’s Law of Blackbody Emission 56
3.5 Selective Absorption and Emission by Atmospheric Gases 57
3.6 The Lambert–Bouguet–Beer Law: Formulation of Flux Absorption 65
3.7 Infrared Radiative Transfer Equation: Absorption and Emission 68
3.8 Heuristic Model of Radiative Equilibrium 74
3.9 Clouds and Radiation 76
3.10 Radiative–Convective Equilibrium Temperature Profiles 79
3.11 A Simple Model for the Net Radiative Effect of Cloudiness 85
3.12 Observed Role of Clouds in the Energy Balance of Earth 88
Exercises 92
Chapter 4. The Energy Balance of the Surface 94
4.1 Contact Point 94
4.2 The Surface Energy Budget 94
4.3 Storage of Heat in the Surface 96
4.4 Radiative Heating of the Surface 100
4.5 The Atmospheric Boundary Layer 105
4.6 Sensible and Latent Heat Fluxes in the Boundary Layer 112
4.7 Variation of Energy Balance Components with Latitude 116
4.8 Diurnal Variation of the Surface Energy Balance 119
4.9 Seasonal Variation of the Energy Balance of Land Areas 122
4.10 Surface Energy Flux Components over the Oceans 124
Exercises 127
Chapter 5. The Hydrologic Cycle 128
5.1 Water. Essential to Climate and Life 128
5.2 The Water Balance 130
5.3 Surface Water Storage and Runoff 133
5.4 Precipitation and Dewfall 134
5.5 Evaporation and Transpiration 135
5.6 Modeling the Land Surface Water Balance 140
5.7 Annual Variation of the Terrestrial Water Balance 143
Exercises 147
Chapter 6. Atmospheric General Circulation and Climate 149
6.1 The Great Communicator 149
6.2 Energy Balance of the Atmosphere 149
6.3 Atmospheric Motions and the Meridional Transpor of Energy 151
6.4 The Angular-Momentum Balance 163
6.5 Large-Scale Circulation Patterns and Climate 168
Exercises 182
Chapter 7. The Ocean General Circulation and Climate 184
7.1 Cauldron of Climate 184
7.2 Properties of Seawater 185
7.3 The Mixed Layer 189
7.4 The Wind-Driven Circulation 193
7.5 Theories for Wind-Driven Circulations 201
7.6 The Deep Thermohaline Circulation 206
7.7 Transport of Energy in the Ocean 210
7.8 Mechanisms of Tranport in the Ocean 212
Exercises 215
Chapter 8. History and Evolution of Earth’s Climate 217
8.1 Past Is Prologue 217
8.2 The Instrumental Record 218
8.3 The Historical Record 220
8.4 Natural Recording Systems: The Paleoclimatic Record 220
8.5 A Brief Survey of Earth’s Climate History 224
8.6 Uses of Paleoclimatic Data 238
Exercises 240
Chapter 9. Climate Sensitivity and Feedback Mechanisms 242
9.1 Fools’ Experiments 242
9.2 Objective Measures of Climate Sensitivity and Feedback 243
9.3 Basic Radiative Feedback Processes 244
9.4 Ice Albedo Feedback 247
9.5 Dynamical Feedbacks and Meridional Enargy Transport 256
9.6 Longwave and Evaporation Feedbacks in the Surface Energy Balance 258
9.7 Cloud Feedback 262
9.8 Biogeochemical Feedbacks 262
Exercises 266
Chapter 10. Global Climate Models 267
10.1 Mathematical Modeling 267
10.2 Historical Development of Climate Models 267
10.3 The Atmospheric Component 270
10.4 The Land Component 277
10.5 The Ocean Component 278
10.6 Validation of Climate Model Simulations 283
10.7 Sensitivity Estimates from Climate Models with Mixed-Layer Oceans 290
10.8 Coupled Atmosphere-Ocean Processes and the Thermohaline Circulation 293
Exercises 297
Chapter 11. Natural Climate Change 299
11.1 Natural Forcing of Climate Change 299
11.2 Solar Luminosity Variations 299
11.3 Natural Aerosols and Climate 304
11.4 Volcanic Eruptions and Stratospheric Aerosols 307
11.5 The Orbital Parameter Theory of Ice Ages 313
11.6 Modeling of Ice Age Climates 325
Exercises 330
Chapter 12. Anthropogenic Climate Change 332
12.1 The Wings of Daedalus 332
12.2 Humans and the Greenhouse Effect 332
12.3 Anthropogenic Aerosols and Atmospheric Sulfur 340
12.4 Changing Surface Conditions 343
12.5 Equilibrium Climate Changes 343
12.6 Time-Dependent Climate Changes 350
12.7 Comparison with Observed Temperature Trends 353
12.8 Sea Level Changes 355
12.9 Outlook for the Future 357
Exercises 357
Appendix A: Calculation of Insolation under Current Conditions 360
Appendix B: The Clausius–Clapeyron Relation 363
Appendix C: The First Law of Thermodynamics, Lapese Rate and Potential Temperature 365
Appendix D: Derivation of Simple Radiative Flux Equations 369
Appendix E: Symbol Definitions 373
Appendix F: Système Internationale(SI) Units 382
Appendix G: Useful Numerical Values 386
Appendix H: Answers to Selected Exercises 388
Glossary 390
References 400
Index 412
International Geophysics Series 422