Satellite Global and Hemispheric Lower Tropospheric Temperature Annual Temperature Cycle

Author： Herman Benjamin M. Brunke Michael A. Pielke Roger A. Christy John R. McNider Richard T.

Publisher： MDPI

E-ISSN： 2072-4292|2|11|2561-2570

ISSN： 2072-4292

Source： Remote Sensing, Vol.2, Iss.11, 2010-11, pp. : 2561-2570

Disclaimer: Any content in publications that violate the sovereignty, the constitution or regulations of the PRC is not accepted or approved by CNPIEC.

Previous Menu Next

Abstract

Previous analyses of the Earth’s annual cycle and its trends have utilized surface temperature data sets. Here we introduce a new analysis of the global and hemispheric annual cycle using a satellite remote sensing derived data set during the period 1979–2009, as determined from the lower tropospheric (LT) channel of the MSU satellite. While the surface annual cycle is tied directly to the heating and cooling of the land areas, the tropospheric annual cycle involves additionally the gain or loss of heat between the surface and atmosphere. The peak in the global tropospheric temperature in the 30 year period occurs on 10 July and the minimum on 9 February in response to the larger land mass in the Northern Hemisphere. The actual dates of the hemispheric maxima and minima are a complex function of many variables which can change from year to year thereby altering these dates.