Everything about Radiative forcing
Concept for changes to the energy flows through a planetary atmosphere
Radiative forcing is a concept used to quantify a change to the balance of energy flowing through a planetary atmosphere. Various factors contribute to this change in energy balance, such as concentrations of greenhouse gases and aerosols, and changes in surface albedo and solar irradiance. In more technical terms, it is defined as "the change in the net, downward minus upward, radiative flux due to a change in an external driver of climate change." These external drivers are distinguished from feedbacks and variability that are internal to the climate system, and that further influence the direction and magnitude of imbalance. Radiative forcing on Earth is meaningfully evaluated at the tropopause and at the stratopause. It is quantified in units of watts per square meter, and often summarized as an average over the total surface area of the globe. Wikipedia →
🧭 Start here: a 6-step reading path
- Read the overview: Radiative forcingA 5-minute orientation
- Skim a recent paper: Opportunistic experiments to constrain aerosol effective radiative forcingInfluential work since 2022
- Pick up a classic book: Climate change, 1994The most-reprinted book on the subject
- Read the landmark paper: Radiative forcing by long‐lived greenhouse gases: Calculations with the AER radiative transfer modelsCited 4,237 times
- Go sideways: Causes of climate changeA closely related topic
- Go sideways: Earth's energy budgetA closely related topic
📖 Definitions
Noun The effect of greenhouse gases on the radiation of heat in the atmosphere.
🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)
Radiative forcing by long‐lived greenhouse gases: Calculations with the AER radiative transfer models
Radiative forcing and climate response
Estimates of the direct and indirect radiative forcing due to tropospheric aerosols: A review
Cloud-Radiative Forcing and Climate: Results from the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment
RCP4.5: a pathway for stabilization of radiative forcing by 2100
Greenhouse Gases in Intensive Agriculture: Contributions of Individual Gases to the Radiative Forcing of the Atmosphere
🆕 Influential since 2022
Opportunistic experiments to constrain aerosol effective radiative forcing
Enhanced Light Absorption and Radiative Forcing by Black Carbon Agglomerates
Radiative forcing from aerosol–cloud interactions enhanced by large-scale circulation adjustments
Uncertainty in aerosol–cloud radiative forcing is driven by clean conditions
Radiative Forcing From the 2014–2022 Volcanic and Wildfire Injections
📚 Books worth reading
Climate change, 1994John Theodore Houghton · 1995- 📕Improvement of the radiative forcing evaluation with GCM for aerosol direct and indirect effectsDaisuke Gotō · 2010
- 📕Evaluation of heating methods for thermal structural testing of large structuresKamran Daryabeigi · 1998
Plan for a Research Program on Aerosol Radiative Forcing and Climate ChangeNational Research Council Staff, Division on Earth and Life Studies Staff · 1996
Ranked by number of editions on Open Library, a rough measure of how lasting a book is.
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