<title>In search of sun-climate connection using solar irradiance measurements and climate records</title>
Author(s) -
Richard K. Kiang,
H. Lee Kyle
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
proceedings of spie, the international society for optical engineering/proceedings of spie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Conference proceedings
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.192
H-Index - 176
eISSN - 1996-756X
pISSN - 0277-786X
DOI - 10.1117/12.381673
Subject(s) - solar irradiance , atmospheric sciences , northern hemisphere , environmental science , irradiance , solar cycle , climatology , stratosphere , ozone layer , southern hemisphere , climate change , solar maximum , meteorology , geography , geology , physics , oceanography , magnetic field , solar wind , quantum mechanics
The Earth's temperature has risen approximately 0.5 degrees C in the last 150 years. Because the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide has increased nearly 30 percent since the industrial revolution, a common conjecture, supported by various climate models, is that anthropogenic greenhouse gases have contributed to global warming. Another probable factor for the warming is the natural variation of solar irradiance. Although the variation is as small as 0.1 percent, it is hypothesized that it contributes to part of the temperature rise. Warmer or cooler ocean temperature at one part of the Globe may manifest as abnormally wet or dry weather patterns some months or years later at another part of the globe. Furthermore, the lower atmosphere can be affected through its coupling with the stratosphere, after the stratospheric ozone absorbs the UV portion of the solar irradiance. In this paper, we use wavelet transforms based on Morlet wavelet to analyze the time-frequency properties in several datasets, including the radiation Budget measurements, the long-term total solar irradiance time series, the long-term temperature at two locations for the North and the South Hemisphere. The main solar cycle, approximately 11 years, are identified in the long-term total solar irradiance time series. The wavelet transform of the temperature datasets show annual cycle but not the solar cycle. Some correlation is seen between the length of the solar cycle extracted from the wavelet transform and the North Hemisphere temperature time series. The absence of the 11-year cycle in a time series does not necessarily imply that the geophysical parameter is not affected by the solar cycle; rather it simply reflects the complex nature of the Earth's response to climate forcings.
Accelerating Research
Robert Robinson Avenue,
Oxford Science Park, Oxford
OX4 4GP, United Kingdom
Address
John Eccles HouseRobert Robinson Avenue,
Oxford Science Park, Oxford
OX4 4GP, United Kingdom