Note: this page offers miscellaneous, possibly evolving, information intended to support the emergence of insight regarding a particular topic. It’s a resource to support my own thinking, and may or may not be useful to others.The contents of the page may change over time.
This page includes maps of climate-related quantities for the period 2001-2021. See also Explorations: Maps of Quantities Relevant to Earth’s Albedo.
Table of Contents
Changes in Quantities
Skin Temperature Changes
Surface skin temperature is the temperature of the thin layer of matter (water, rock, vegetation) that emits thermal radiation.
Surface LW Emissions Changes
Surface LW emissions (SLR) changes basically correspond to surface skin temperature changes, albeit with a sight difference due to emissivity differences between different regions of the surface.
Normalized Greenhouse Effect Changes
Note: Given the way that the normalized greenhouse effect is defined, the global value of the normalized greenhouse effect is NOT simply the area-weighted mean of local normalized greenhouse effect values. So, counterintuitively, the “mean” value reported on these charts doesn’t directly indicate the overall global value.
Greenhouse Effect (Energy Flux) Changes
TOA Energy Imbalance Changes
Note that TOA Energy Imbalance (TEI) is equal to the energy storage rate (typically associated with warming ocean or melting ice) minus the lateral heat arrival rate (associated with advection, i.e., heat delivery/loss due to air or ocean circulation). Changes in TEI over land likely reflect advection rather than energy storage.
Surface SW Down Changes
Changes to shortwave radiation reaching the surface are likely mainly due to changes in cloud opacity, though changes in aerosols could also play a role.
Baseline Quantities
Skin Temperature
Surface LW Emissions
Outgoing LW Emissions
Normalized Greenhouse Effect
Note: Given the way that the normalized greenhouse effect is defined, the global value of the normalized greenhouse effect is NOT simply the area-weighted mean of local normalized greenhouse effect values. So, counterintuitively, the “mean” value reported on this chart doesn’t directly indicate the overall global value.
Downwelling Longwave Radiation
Total Column Water Vapor
