During the last 30 years, space observations have provided new information about (a) the energy from our Sun, (b) the radiative exchange between our earth-atmosphere system and space, (c) required poleward energy transports by our atmosphere and oceans, (d) seasonal and interannual variations of (b) and (c), (e) the role of clouds in the global energy budget, and (f) preliminary information about the role of water vapor in the global energy budget. After a review of what we now know about these topics, the paper concludes with a discussion of major unknowns including the vertical variation of cloud forcing, the 'CO2 fingerprint,' the 'missing petawatt' of energy transport, and the role of non-cloud aerosols and surface features in the global budget.
The global energy budget and satellite observations
Advances in Space Research ; 14 , 1
1994-01-01
Miscellaneous
No indication
English
The global energy budget and satellite observations
Elsevier | 1993
|Earth Radiation Budget Satellite
NTRS | 1985
|