WG1 AR5 Ch2

Observations: Atmosphere and surface

This chapter is part of the Fifth Assessment Report of Working Group I.

Original text

as published

CLA (Coordinating Lead Authors)

• Dennis Hartman
• Albert Klein Tank
• Matilde Rusticucci

LA (Lead Authors)

• Lisa Alexander
• Stefan Brönnimann
• Yassine Abdul-Rahman Charabi
• Frank Dentener
• Edward Dlugokencky
• David Easterling
• Alexey Kaplan
• Brian Soden
• Peter Thorne
• Martin Wild
• Panmao Zhai

Contributing Authors (Click "Expand" to see list)

• Robert Adler (USA)
• Richard Allan (UK)
• Robert Allan (UK)
• Donald Blake (USA)
• Owen Cooper (USA)
• Aiguo Dai (USA)
• Robert Davis (USA)
• Sean Davis (USA)
• Markus Donat (Australia)
• Vitali Fioletov (Canada)
• Erich Fischer (Switzerland)
• Leopold Haimberger (Austria)
• Ben Ho (USA)
• John Kennedy (UK)
• Elizabeth Kent (UK)
• Stefan Kinne (Germany)
• James Kossin (USA)
• Norman Loeb (USA)
• Carl Mears (USA)
• Christopher Merchant (UK)
• Steve Montzka (USA)
• Colin Morice (UK)
• Cathrine Lund Myhre (Norway)
• Joel Norris (USA)
• David Parker (UK)
• Bill Randel (USA)
• Andreas Richter (Germany)
• Matthew Rigby (UK)
• Ben Santer (USA)
• Dian Seidel (USA)
• Tom Smith (USA)
• David Stephenson (UK)
• Ryan Teuling (Netherlands)
• Junhong Wang (USA)
• Xiaolan Wang (Canada)
• Ray Weiss (USA)
• Kate Willett (UK)
• Simon Wood (UK)

Review Editors

• Jim Hurrell (USA)
• Jose Marengo (Brazil)
• Fredolin Tangang (Malaysia)
• Pedro Viterbo (Portugal)

Contents

152.2 Changes in Atmospheric Composition

• 152.2.1 Well-Mixed Greenhouse Gases
  • 152.2.1.1 Kyoto Protocol Gases (Carbon Dioxide, Methane, Nitrous Oxide, Hydrofluorocarbons, Perfluorocarbons and Sulphur Hexafluoride)
    • 152.2.1.1.1 Carbon dioxide
    • 152.2.1.1.2 Methane
    • 152.2.1.1.3 Nitrous oxide
    • 152.2.1.1.4 Hydrofluorocarbons, Perfluorocarbons, Sulphur Hexafluoride and Nitrogen Trifluoride
  • 152.2.1.2 Ozone-Depleting Substances (Chlorofluorocarbons, Chlorinated Solvents, and Hydrochlorofluorocarbons
• 152.2.2 Near-Term Climate Forcers
  • 152.2.2.1 Stratospheric Water Vapour
  • 152.2.2.2 Stratospheric Ozone
  • 152.2.2.3 Tropospheric Ozone
  • 152.2.2.4 Carbon Monoxide, Non-Methane Volatile Organic Compounds and Nitrogen Dioxide
• 152.2.3 Aerosols
  • 152.2.3.1 Aerosol Optical Depth from Remote Sensing
  • 152.2.3.2 In Situ Surface Aerosol Measurements

152.3 Changes in Radiation Budgets

• 152.3.1 Global Mean Radiation Budget
• 152.3.2 Changes in Top of the Atmosphere Radiation Budget
• 152.3.3 Changes in Surface Radiation Budget
  • 152.3.3.1 Surface Solar Radiation
  • 152.3.3.2 Surface Thermal and Net Radiation
  • 152.3.3.3 Implications from Observed Changes in Related Climate Elements

152.4 Changes in Temperature

• 152.4.1 Land Surface Air Temperature
  • 152.4.1.1 Large-Scale Records and Their Uncertainties
  • 152.4.1.2 Diurnal Temperature Range
  • 152.4.1.3 Land Use Change and Urban Heat Island Effects
• 152.4.2 Sea Surface Temperature and Marine Air Temperature
  • 152.4.2.1 Advances in Assembling Data Sets and in Understanding Data Errors
  • 152.4.2.2 Interpolated SST Products and Trends
• 152.4.3 Global Combined Land and Sea Surface Temperature
• 152.4.4 Upper Air Temperature
  • 152.4.4.1 Advances in Multi-Decadal Observational Records
  • 152.4.4.2 Intercomparisons of Various Long-Term Radiosonde and MSU Products
  • 152.4.4.3 Additional Evidence from Other Technologies and Approaches
  • 152.4.4.4 Synthesis of Free Atmosphere Temperature Estimates

152.5 Changes in Hydrological Cycle

• 152.5.1 Large-Scale Changes in Precipitation
  • 152.5.1.1 Global Land Areas
  • 152.5.1.2 Spatial Variability of Observed Trends
  • 152.5.1.3 Changes in Snowfall
• 152.5.2 Streamflow and Runoff
• 152.5.3 Evapotranspiration Including Pan Evaporation
• 152.5.4 Surface Humidity
• 152.5.5 Tropospheric Humidity
  • 152.5.5.1 Radiosonde
  • 152.5.5.2 Global Positioning System
  • 152.5.5.3 Satellite
  • 152.5.5.4 Reanalyses
• 152.5.6 Clouds
  • 152.5.6.1 Surface Observations
  • 152.5.6.2 Satellite Observations

152.6 Changes in Extreme Events

• 152.6.1 Temperature Extremes
• 152.6.2 Extremes of the Hydrological Cycle
  • 152.6.2.1 Precipitation Extremes
  • 152.6.2.2 Floods
  • 152.6.2.3 Droughts
  • 152.6.2.4 Severe Local Weather Events
• 152.6.3 Tropical Storms
• 152.6.4 Extratropical Storms

152.7 Changes in Atmospheric Circulation and Patterns of Variability

• 152.7.1 Sea Level Pressure
• 152.7.2 Surface Wind Speed
• 152.7.3 Upper-Air Winds
• 152.7.4 Tropospheric Geopotential Height and Tropopause
• 152.7.5 Tropical Circulation
• 152.7.6 Jets, Storm Tracks and Weather Types
  • 152.7.6.1 Mid-latitude and Subtropical Jets and Storm Track Position
  • 152.7.6.2 Weather Types and Blocking
• 152.7.7 Stratospheric Circulation
• 152.7.8 Changes in Indices of Climate Variability

Box 152.1: Uncertainty in Observational Records

Box 152.2: Quantifying Changes in the Mean: Trend Models and Estimation

Box 152.3: Global Atmospheric Reanalyses

Box 152.4: Extremes Indices

Box 152.5: Patterns and Indices of Climate Variability

Frequently Asked Questions

FAQ 152.1 How Do We Know the World Has Warmed?

FAQ 152.2 Have There Been Any Changes in Climate Extremes?

152 References

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