Climate Data Information

Albedo

The data came from: Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) S4G Global Clear-Sky Top Atmosphere Monthly Albedo at 2.5 and 1 Degree Resolutions (1986-1990). They were provided by the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC). Dr. Bruce Barkstrom was the Principal Investigator of the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE). The original data sets can be accessed at the following web site: http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/PRODOCS/erbe/table_erbe.html

Gases

All figures above, are based on Kiehl and Trenberth, Earth’s Annual Global Mean Energy Budget, Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Vol. 78, No. 2, February 1997. The way these figures have been derived is not exact and should be considered as a general guideline. Figures 1 and 2 demonstrate there is some overlap of the wavelengths over which different gases absorb radiation. For example, water vapor has an effect over the wavelengths of most of the other gases. Nitrous oxide and methane operate over the same narrow band. The percentage contribution is based on ‘sharing’ the effect when wavelengths overlap . The percentage also varies depending on whether sky is clear or cloudy.

Milankovitch Cycles

The Milankovitch data were downloaded from: http://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/climate_forcing/orbital_variations/berger_insolation/. The were processed by program which allowed choice of month(s) and latitude range. (Reference: Berger, A., 1992, Orbital Variations and Insolation Database. IGBP PAGES/World Data Center for Paleoclimatology )

The graphs “Milankovitch cycles and temperature form Vostok ice core” and “Vostok ice core – temperature and CO2” are based on the files “vostok_deld.txt” and “co2nat.txt”. (References: Jouzel et al. (1987, 1993 and 1996) and Wahlen, M., et al, (2000), Vostok Ice Core CO2 Data, 1105-2856m.

The figure “Percentage of earth’s area on latitude bands” was prepared by digitising a Mollweide equal-area projection map of the earth.

The figure “Seasonal difference in albedo” was based on data from : Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) S4G Global Clear-Sky Top Atmosphere Monthly Albedo at 2.5 and 1 Degree Resolutions (1986-1990). They were provided by the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC). Dr. Bruce Barkstrom was the Principal Investigator of the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE). The original data sets can be accessed at the following web site: http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/PRODOCS/erbe/table_erbe.html

Radio-Sonde

- Data file: hadat2_monthly_global_mean.txt;
- URL: http://hadobs.metoffice.com/hadat/hadat2.html; Reference: Thanks to Peter Thorne and Holly Titchner who maintains the site;
- Processed data file: tpt-height-mthly.csv;
- Processed data file: tpt-height.csv;
- Graph from US Climate Change Science Program
- Source: http://www.climatescience.gov/Library/sap/sap1-1/finalreport/sap1-1-final-chap5.pdf, figure 5.7 E

Sunspots

Source - sun spots: http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/stp/SOLAR/ftpsunspotnumber.html#hoyt. (Reference: Hoyt, D. V., and K. H. Schatten, 1997. Group Sunspot Numbers: A New Solar Activity Reconstruction. Solar Physics.)

Source – data for butterfly diagram: http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/greenwch/bflydata.txt (Reference: Dr. David H. Hathaway, Marshall Space Flight Center, NASA. )

Source – cosmic rays: ftp://ftp.ngdc.noaa.gov/STP/SOLAR_DATA/COSMIC_RAYS.

Source – radio flux: ftp://ftp.ngdc.noaa.gov/STP/SOLAR_DATA/SOLAR_RADIO/FLUX/MONTHLY.ADJ

Source – total solar irradiance: http://www.acrim.com/RESULTS/Composite/composite_acrim_hdr_1108.txt

The photos of the sunspots were downloaded from http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime-images.html

Volcanoes

The data for volcanoes was derived from http://www.volcano.si.edu/world/largeeruptions.cfm run by the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.