Encyclopedia

radiative forcing

Also found in: Medical, Acronyms, Wikipedia.

radiative forcing

[‚rād·ē‚ād·iv ′fȯrs·iŋ]
(meteorology)
The relative effectiveness of greenhouse gases to restrict long-wave radiation from escaping back into space. For a particular greenhouse gas, radiative forcing is measured as the change in average net radiation (in watts per square meter) at the top of the troposphere, and depends on the wavelength at which the gas absorbs the radiation, the strength of absorption per molecule, and the concentration of the gas.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
Mentioned in
References in periodicals archive
Since the optically thick cloud was sampled over open ocean and sea ice, two modes in the frequency distribution of solar cloud radiative forcing appear (Fig.
Caption: Albedo effects Radiative forcing and climate responses
Blaschke, "Aerosol optical properties and radiative forcing over mega city Karachi," Atmospheric Research, vol.
"It is also clear that the oceans absorb about 85% of the excess heat resulting from this radiative forcing by greenhouse gases (as well as about 40% of the carbon dioxide).
As noted above, the IPCC report concedes that "almost all historical simulations do not reproduce the observed recent warming hiatus." It argues that the difference "could be caused by some combination of (a) internal climate variability, (b) missing or incorrect radiative forcing, and (c) model response error." That is to say, the projections are being thrown by pesky natural climate fluctuations, and possible errors in calculating how much warming a given greenhouse gas will produce.
C[O.sub.2] is the leading human activity related (hereon referred as, anthropogenic) GHG and has been mentioned in various researches as contributing the most to the increased levels of global warming that through its radiative forcing and greenhouse effect.
Key words: AERONET, Refractive index, Asymmetry parameter, Radiative forcing, Lahore
Consequently, the visibility is reduced and the local radiative forcing is significantly affected.
The WMO says greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere reached record concentrations in 2011, and reported Tuesday a 30 percent increase in "radiative forcing" the warming effect on climate, between 1990 and 2011.
1, we chose one with a target radiative forcing of 2.6W[m.sup.-2] at the stabilization stage, labeled RCP 2.6.8),9) Apparently, this target corresponds to an equilibrium temperature rise of 2 [degrees]C (to be precise, 2.1 [degrees]C), if we adopt 3[degrees]C as the most likely value of climate sensitivity.
Copyright © 2003-2025 Farlex, Inc Disclaimer
All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional.