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Publication Abstracts

Lacis et al. 2013

Lacis, A.A., J.E. Hansen, G.L. Russell, V. Oinas, and J. Jonas, 2013: The role of long-lived greenhouse gases as principal LW control knob that governs the global surface temperature for past and future climate change. Tellus B, 65, 19734, doi:10.3402/tellusb.v65i0.19734.

The climate system of the Earth is endowed with a moderately strong greenhouse effect that is characterized by non-condensing greenhouse gases (GHGs) that provide the core radiative forcing. Of these, the most important is atmospheric CO₂. There is a strong feedback contribution to the greenhouse effect by water vapor and clouds that is unique in the solar system, exceeding the core radiative forcing due to the non-condensing GHGs by a factor of three. The significance of the non-condensing GHGs is that once they have been injected into the atmosphere, they remain there virtually indefinitely because they do not condense and precipitate from the atmosphere, their chemical removal time ranging from decades to millenia. Water vapor and clouds have only a short lifespan, with their distribution determined by the locally prevailing meteorological conditions, subject to Clausius-Clapeyron constraint. Although solar irradiance is the ultimate energy source that powers the terrestrial greenhouse effect, there has been no discernable long-term trend in solar irradiance since precide monitoring began in the late 1970s. This leaves atmospheric CO₂ as the effective control knob driving the current global warming trend. Over geologic time scales, volcanoes are the principal source of atmospheric CO₂, and the weathering of rocks is the principal sink, with the biosphere particpating as both a source and a sink. The problem at hand is that human indistrial activity is causing atmospheric CO₂ to increase by 2 ppm/yr, whereas the interglacial rate has been 0.005 ppm/yr. This is a geologically unprecedented rate to turn the CO₂ climate control knob. This is causing the global warming that threatens the global environment.

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Export citation: [ BibTeX ] [ RIS ]

@article{la06400p,
  author={Lacis, A. A. and Hansen, J. E. and Russell, G. L. and Oinas, V. and Jonas, J.},
  title={The role of long-lived greenhouse gases as principal LW control knob that governs the global surface temperature for past and future climate change},
  year={2013},
  journal={Tellus B},
  volume={65},
  pages={19734},
  doi={10.3402/tellusb.v65i0.19734},
}

TY  - JOUR
ID  - la06400p
AU  - Lacis, A. A.
AU  - Hansen, J. E.
AU  - Russell, G. L.
AU  - Oinas, V.
AU  - Jonas, J.
PY  - 2013
TI  - The role of long-lived greenhouse gases as principal LW control knob that governs the global surface temperature for past and future climate change
JA  - Tellus B
VL  - 65
SP  - 19734
DO  - 10.3402/tellusb.v65i0.19734
ER  -

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