Anomalous short wave absorption and atmospheric tides

Recent studies suggest that either clouds or water vapor in clear air absorb significantly more solar radiation (roughly 25 W m−2 averaged globally) than previously thought. It is interesting, in this connection, that solar diurnal surface pressure tides, which are forced primarily by insolation abs...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical research letters 1998-05, Vol.25 (9), p.1293-1296
Main Authors: Braswell, William D., Lindzen, Richard S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
External geophysics
Meteorology
Radiative transfer. Solar radiation
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Summary:Recent studies suggest that either clouds or water vapor in clear air absorb significantly more solar radiation (roughly 25 W m−2 averaged globally) than previously thought. It is interesting, in this connection, that solar diurnal surface pressure tides, which are forced primarily by insolation absorbed in the troposphere, are significantly underestimated in current calculations. In this paper it is shown that increased absorption of the above magnitude results in sizable increases in the migrating diurnal surface pressure tide computed from classical tidal theory. Depending on how this extra forcing is distributed in the troposphere, the annually averaged peak tide increases by 150 to 250 µb when the anomalous absorption is considered, resulting in much better agreement with observations.
ISSN:0094-8276
1944-8007
DOI:10.1029/98GL01031