Do Satellites Detect Trends in Surface Solar Radiation?
Abstract
Long-term variations in solar radiation at Earth's surface (S) can affect our climate, the hydrological cycle, plant photosynthesis, and solar power. Sustained decreases in S have been widely reported from about the year 1960 to 1990. Here we present an estimate of global temporal variations in S by using the longest available satellite record. We observed an overall increase in S from 1983 to 2001 at a rate of 0.16 watts per square meter (0.10%) per year; this change is a combination of a decrease until about 1990, followed by a sustained increase. The global-scale findings are consistent with recent independent satellite observations but differ in sign and magnitude from previously reported ground observations. Unlike ground stations, satellites can uniformly sample the entire globe.
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Supported under NASA grants NAG59634 (Earth Observing System/Interdisciplinary Science Investigation) and NNG04GD65G (Office of Earth Science) and benefited by work done under NAG5836 (Earth Science Enterprise/HYDROMET/Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia) to the University of Maryland. We appreciate the monumental effort of W. B. Rossow in preparing the ISCCP data; without such information, this study would not have been possible. The ISCCP D1 data were obtained from the NASA Langley Atmospheric Sciences Data Center.
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Published In
Science
Volume 308 | Issue 5723
6 May 2005
6 May 2005
Copyright
American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Submission history
Received: 23 July 2004
Accepted: 16 March 2005
Published in print: 6 May 2005
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