Publication Abstracts

Lacis 2009

Lacis, A.A., 2009: Climate forcings. In Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments. V. Gornitz, Ed., Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series, Springer, pp. 174-178.

Climate forcings are usually thought of as being small, sustained changes that are externally imposed on either the solar or thermal component of the planet's radiation energy balance, thereby driving the climate system to a new thermal equilibrium. Climate change is frequently associated with changes in atmospheric circulation that alter the prevailing precipitation and temperature patterns. However, since the atmospheric circulation is ultimately driven by temperature contrasts, the climate forcings are ultimately radiative in nature.

A change in radiative forcing does not necessarily have climatic consequences. The bona fide climate forcings are radiative changes that are sufficiently large in magnitude, and/or are sustained enough to overcome the large heat capacity of the ocean, land and atmosphere, and thus produce a change in the annual mean radiative energy balance of the Earth sufficient to move the prevailing climate away from its reference norm.

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BibTeX Citation

@misc{la03300x,
  author={Lacis, A. A.},
  editor={Gornitz, V.},
  title={Climate forcings},
  booktitle={Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments},
  year={2009},
  pages={174--178},
  publisher={Springer},
  address={Dordrecht, the Netherlands},
  series={Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series},
}

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RIS Citation

TY  - ENCYC
ID  - la03300x
AU  - Lacis, A. A.
ED  - Gornitz, V.
PY  - 2009
TI  - Climate forcings
BT  - Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments
T3  - Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series
SP  - 174
EP  - 178
PB  - Springer
CY  - Dordrecht, the Netherlands
ER  -

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