Cloud Radiation Interaction and the Earth's Climate: Relevance to the Climate of the Arctic

• Main Author: Stephens, Graeme L.
• Other Authors: COLORADO STATE UNIV FORT COLLINS DEPT OF ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1992
• Subjects: Meteorology; Snow; Ice and Permafrost; *ALBEDO; *CLOUD PHYSICS; *SEA ICE; BALANCE; CLIMATE; ENERGY; FEEDBACK; GLOBAL; RADIATION; ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT; GREENHOUSE EFFECT; *Global climate change; Component Reports; *Radiation balance; Arctic; Fairbanks; albedo; Climate change; Ice; permafrost; Sea ice; Alaska
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADP007280; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADP007280

The influence on the energy balance of the earth's climate system is reviewed and is based on recent satellite observations of the Earth's Radiation Budget (ERB) and other satellite-derived cloud information. The special difficulties that polar cloudiness poses in analysis of ERB data are discussed. The role of arctic cloudiness on the snow-ice albedo feedback is examined and the possible influence of this feedback to global cloudiness and thus to the radiation balance on the earth are explored. This article is from 'Proceedings of the International Conference on the Role of the Polar Regions in Global Change Held in Fairbanks, Alaska on 11-15 June 1990. Volume 1', AD-A253 027, p151-157.