Observing and Modeling Earth’s Energy Flows

This article reviews, from the authors’ perspective, progress in observing and modeling energy flows in Earth’s climate system. Emphasis is placed on the state of understanding of Earth’s energy flows and their susceptibility to perturbations, with particular emphasis on the roles of clouds and aerosols. More accurate measurements of the total solar irradiance and the rate of change of ocean enthalpy help constrain individual components of the energy budget at the top of the atmosphere to within ±2 W m^?2. The measurements demonstrate that Earth reflects substantially less solar radiation and emits more terrestrial radiation than was believed even a decade ago. Active remote sensing is helping to constrain the surface energy budget, but new estimates of downwelling surface irradiance that benefit from such methods are proving difficult to reconcile with existing precipitation climatologies. Overall, the energy budget at the surface is much more uncertain than at the top of the atmosphere. A decade of high-precision measurements of the energy budget at the top of the atmosphere is providing new opportunities to track Earth’s energy flows on timescales ranging from days to years, and at very high spatial resolution. The measurements show that the principal limitation in the estimate of secular trends now lies in the natural variability of the Earth system itself. The forcing-feedback-response framework, which has developed to understand how changes in Earth’s energy flows affect surface temperature, is reviewed in light of recent work that shows fast responses (adjustments) of the system are central to the definition of the effective forcing that results from a change in atmospheric composition. In many cases, the adjustment, rather than the characterization of the compositional perturbation (associated, for instance, with changing greenhouse gas concentrations, or aerosol burdens), limits accurate determination of the radiative forcing. Changes in clouds contribute importantly to this adjustment and thus contribute both to uncertainty in estimates of radiative forcing and to uncertainty in the response. Models are indispensable to calculation of the adjustment of the system to a compositional change but are known to be flawed in their representation of clouds. Advances in tracking Earth’s energy flows and compositional changes on daily through decadal timescales are shown to provide both a critical and constructive framework for advancing model development and evaluation.     

Statistics on the sizes and internal structures of rainshowers

A large sample of radar reflectivity data from essentially a full summer of operation was analyzed to determine the horizontal extents and internal structure of rain areas observed at altitude levels from 2 to 10 km. Results are given on the size distributions of individual cells or patches defined by reflectivity thresholds approximately 4 dBz apart, on the dependence of mean size on altitude and reflectivity threshold, and on the interior structure of the patches as characterized by the number and sizes of higher-threshold patches contained in each echo. In a more detailed analysis of internal structure, the data were restricted to convective echoes in which certain prescribed reflectivities, ranging from about 30 to 50 dBz, were exceeded. It was found that the dependence of mean quantities, such as patch area, on reflectivity and altitude could be approximately described by simple functions, but that the scatter of observations about the mean was usually large.     

Tracer measurements in groyne fields for the quantification of mean hydraulic residence times and of the exchange with the stream

Tracer experiments were carried out in groyne fields (GF) of the river Elbe near Havelberg (Germany) in order to estimate the hydraulic connectivity with the river channel. The characteristic times of the five groyne fields, which were estimated from the exponentially declining tracer curves in 43 runs, ranged between 15 min and 69 min and did not correlate with the water level. Methodological investigations show that single point injection and two measurements (in the outflowing water and in the dominant region) are sufficient to provide robust in‐situ tracer curves. Using simplified mathematical simulations with connected stirred tanks, the conditions are investigated for the development of breaks in tracer curves and for the occurrence of significant errors in the estimation of intrinsic residence times. It was shown that an initial uniform dye distribution is not mandatory for the estimation during steady states. In special cases, point injections are more advisable. Moreover, the mean hydraulic residence time was found to be not equivalent to the estimated characteristic time. In fact, it is mostly overestimated by tracer experiments. The degree of overestimation depends on mixing and the volumetric proportions between the different parts of the GF and can be calculated from measured dye concentration differences. For example, an overestimation of 32% was calculated for a groyne field with a commonly found circulation flow pattern.     

A theory for the interpretation of lunar surface magnetometer data

The solution to the problem of the motion of the Moon relative to spatial irregularities in the interplanetary magnetic field is found. The lunar electrical conductivity is modeled by a two-layer conductivity profile. For the interaction of the Moon with the corotating sector structure of the interplanetary magnetic field it is found that the magnetic field in the lunar shell is the superposition of an oscillatory uniform field, an oscillatory dipole field and anoscillatory field that is toroidal about the axis of the motional electric field. With various lunar conductivity models and the theory of this paper, lunar surface magnetometer data can be quantitatively interpreted to yield information on the conductivity and consequently the temperature of the lunar core.Presently visiting the Max-Planck-Institut für Physik und Astrophysik, München, Germany.     

The geochemistry of the leached capping of the La Granja porphyry copper deposit, Peru

Ninety rock samples from the La Granja porphyry copper in northern Peru have been analyzed for 30 elements, 10 of which are discussed here. Although intense weathering has produced a leached capping up to 200 m thick, the distribution of Mg, Ca, Na, K, Rb and Sr can still be correlated with different phases of hydrothermal alteration.There has been complete supergene leaching of sulphides; Cu has been depleted 10 to 30 times and Mo up to twice with respect to hypogene ore, Fe has been enriched in some parts of the leached capping, whereas Au remained stable. The coincidence of low Fe, high Mo and high Au contents with a high Cu/Fe ratio in the capping indicates the approximate centre of the underlying orebody. Also, high K, Rb, Mg and low Sr indicate high-grade copper ore.