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Effect of solar variability on atmospheric moisture storage
Author(s) -
Wasko Conrad,
Sharma Ashish
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2008gl036310
Subject(s) - environmental science , forcing (mathematics) , moisture , water content , atmospheric sciences , solar variation , climatology , atmosphere (unit) , solar cycle , climate change , meteorology , geology , geography , physics , oceanography , geotechnical engineering , quantum mechanics , magnetic field , solar wind
The 11‐year solar cycle is used as the basis of imparting variability in solar forcing in a General Circulation Model. Using different amplitude solar forcing it was found that the resulting global atmospheric moisture content exhibited a high power in its wavelet spectrum at the 11‐year frequency. To identify long term climatic trends, the Earth's atmosphere was conceptualized as a storage reservoir filling and depleting the atmospheric moisture with time. A high required storage implied that the climate of that region exhibits larger climate variations leading to a larger moisture scarcity or drought. It was found that regions that had relatively small storage requirements experienced an increase in storage required due to the 11‐year solar cycle, while regions with relatively large storage requirements experiencing a decrease in storage. It is concluded that the 11‐year solar cycle may act to reduce sustained variations in moisture availability across significant climatic regions.