The genesis and evolution of Earth’s climate is largely regulated by the Earth radiation budget. Despite the central importance of the Earth radiation budget for the climate system and climate change, substantial uncertainties still exist in the quantification of its different components, and their representation in climate models. While the net radiative energy flow in and out of the climate system at the top of atmosphere is now known with considerable accuracy from new satellite observing systems, much less is known about the energy distribution within the climate system and at the Earth surface. Yet it is at the surface where the radiative exchanges are most influential for the climates of our environments and living conditions on our planet. Variations in these fluxes play therefore a key role in discussions of climate and environmental change. There is increasing evidence that surface radiative fluxes indeed undergo significant changes on decadal timescales, not only in their thermal components as expected from the increasing greenhouse effect, but also in the amount of solar radiation that reaches the Earth surface, popularly known as “global dimming and brightening”. This seminar highlights the role that these variations may play in the context of climate change.

Referent/in
Prof. Martin Wild

ETH Zurich
Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science

Veranstalter
Prof. Dr. J. Orphal
IMK-ASF
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
Karlsruhe
Tel: +49 721 608 29121
Fax: +49 721 608 24742
E-Mail: johannes orphal ∂does-not-exist.kit edu

Zielgruppe
Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeitende