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ESA's Venus Express Mission has monitored Venus since April 2006,
and scientists worldwide have used mathematical models to
investigate its atmosphere and model its circulation. This book
summarizes recent work to explore and understand the climate of the
planet through a research program under the auspices of the
International Space Science Institute (ISSI) in Bern, Switzerland.
Some of the unique elements that are discussed are the anomalies
with Venus' surface temperature (the huge greenhouse effect causes
the surface to rise to 460 DegreesC, without which would plummet as
low as -40 DegreesC), its unusual lack of solar radiation (despite
being closer to the Sun, Venus receives less solar radiation than
Earth due to its dense cloud cover reflecting 76% back) and the
juxtaposition of its atmosphere and planetary rotation (wind speeds
can climb up to 200 m/s, much faster than Venus' sidereal day of
243 Earth-days).
ESA's Venus Express Mission has monitored Venus since April 2006,
and scientists worldwide have used mathematical models to
investigate its atmosphere and model its circulation. This book
summarizes recent work to explore and understand the climate of the
planet through a research program under the auspices of the
International Space Science Institute (ISSI) in Bern, Switzerland.
Some of the unique elements that are discussed are the anomalies
with Venus' surface temperature (the huge greenhouse effect causes
the surface to rise to 460 DegreesC, without which would plummet as
low as -40 DegreesC), its unusual lack of solar radiation (despite
being closer to the Sun, Venus receives less solar radiation than
Earth due to its dense cloud cover reflecting 76% back) and the
juxtaposition of its atmosphere and planetary rotation (wind speeds
can climb up to 200 m/s, much faster than Venus' sidereal day of
243 Earth-days).
This book provides a comprehensive presentation of Earth s energy
flows and their consequences for the climate. The Earth s climate
as well as planetary climates in general, are broadly controlled by
three fundamental parameters: the solar irradiance, the planetary
albedo and the planetary emissivity. Space measurements indicate
that these three quantities are remarkably stable. A minor decrease
inplanetary emissivity is consistent with theoretical calculations.
This is due to the ongoing increase of atmospheric greenhouse gases
making the atmosphere more opaque to long wave terrestrial
radiation. As a consequence radiation processes are slightly out of
balance as less heat is leaving the Earth in the form of thermal
radiation than the incoming amount of heat from the sun. Present
space-based systems cannot yet satisfactorily measure this
imbalance, but the effect can be inferred from the measurements of
the increase of heat in the oceans. Minor amounts of heat are also
used to melt ice and to warm the atmosphere and the surface of the
Earth.
The book brings to fore the complexity of feedback processes of the
Earth s climate system and in particular the way clouds and
aerosols affect the energy balance both directly and indirectly
through feed-back loops driven by the dynamics of atmospheric,
ocean and land surface processes. The book highlights recent
scientific progress as well as remaining challenges.
Previously published in Surveys in Geophysics, Volume 33, Nos. 3-4,
2012"
This book provides a comprehensive presentation of Earth's energy
flows and their consequences for the climate. The Earth's climate
as well as planetary climates in general, are broadly controlled by
three fundamental parameters: the solar irradiance, the planetary
albedo and the planetary emissivity. Space measurements indicate
that these three quantities are remarkably stable. A minor decrease
in planetary emissivity is consistent with theoretical
calculations. This is due to the ongoing increase of atmospheric
greenhouse gases making the atmosphere more opaque to long wave
terrestrial radiation. As a consequence radiation processes are
slightly out of balance as less heat is leaving the Earth in the
form of thermal radiation than the incoming amount of heat from the
sun. Present space-based systems cannot yet satisfactorily measure
this imbalance, but the effect can be inferred from the
measurements of the increase of heat in the oceans. Minor amounts
of heat are also used to melt ice and to warm the atmosphere and
the surface of the Earth. The book brings to fore the complexity of
feedback processes of the Earth's climate system and in particular
the way clouds and aerosols affect the energy balance both directly
and indirectly through feed-back loops driven by the dynamics of
atmospheric, ocean and land surface processes. The book highlights
recent scientific progress as well as remaining challenges.
Previously published in Surveys in Geophysics, Volume 33, Nos. 3-4,
2012
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