Hans Gilgen’s research while affiliated with Bureau of Meteorology and other places

Variations in solar radiation incident at Earth's surface profoundly affect the human and terrestrial environment. A decline in solar radiation at land surfaces has become apparent in many observational records up to 1990, a phenomenon known as global dimming. Newly available surface observations from 1990 to the present, primarily from the Northern Hemisphere, show that the dimming did not persist into the 1990s. Instead, a widespread brightening has been observed since the late 1980s. This reversal is reconcilable with changes in cloudiness and atmospheric transmission and may substantially affect surface climate, the hydrological cycle, glaciers, and ecosystems.

Several studies indicate that incident shortwave radiation at land surfaces has significantly decreased between 1960 and 1990. Despite this, land temperature has increased by 0.4degreesC over the same period. From a surface energy balance perspective, this counterintuitive behaviour can be resolved either 1) through an increase in the downward longwave radiation which outweighs the decreased insolation or 2) through a decrease of surface evaporation and associated reduced evaporative surface cooling. It is suggested that 1) may not be large enough, so that the available energy for evaporation may rather have decreased than increased over the period considered. This is in line with an analysis of observed surface net radiation records. The inferred decrease of evaporation would further imply that the observed intensification of the hydrological cycle over extratropical land has been more likely due to increased moisture advection from the oceans than due to increased local moisture release through evaporation.

The longwave radiation emitted by the atmosphere toward the surface [downward longwave radiation (DLR)] is a crucial factor in the exchange of energy between the earth surface and the atmosphere and in the context of radiation-induced climate change. Accurate modeling of this quantity is therefore a fundamental prerequisite for a reliable simulation and projection of the surface climate in coupled general circulation models (GCM).DLR climatologies calculated in a number of GCMs and in a model in assimilation mode (reanalysis) are analyzed using newly available data from 45 worldwide distributed observation sites of the Global Energy Balance Archive (GEBA) and the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN). It is shown that substantial biases are present in the GCM-calculated DLR climatologies, with the GCMs typically underestimating the DLR (estimated here to be approximately 344 W m2 globally). The biases are, however, not geographically homogeneous, but depend systematically on the prevailing atmospheric conditions. The DLR is significantly underestimated particularly at observation sites with cold and dry climates and thus little DLR emission. This underestimation gradually diminishes toward sites with more moderate climates; at sites with warm or humid atmospheric conditions and strong DLR emission, the GCM-calculated DLR is in better agreement with the observations or even overestimates them. This is equivalent to creating an excessively strong meridional gradient of DLR in the GCMs.The very same tendencies are independently found in stand-alone calculations with the GCM radiation codes in isolation, using observed atmospheric profiles of temperature and humidity for cloud-free conditions as input to the radiation schemes. A significant underestimation of DLR is calculated by the radiation schemes when driven with clear-sky atmospheric profiles of temperature and humidity representative for cold and dry climates, whereas the DLR is no longer underestimated by the radiation schemes with prescribed clear-sky profiles representative for a hot and humid atmosphere. This suggests that the biases in the GCM-calculated DLR climatologies are predominantly induced by problems in the simulated emission of the cloud-free atmosphere.The same biases are also found in the DLR fluxes calculated by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) model in assimilation mode (reanalysis), in which the biases in the atmospheric thermal and humidity structure are minimized. This gives further support that the biases in the DLR are not primarily due to errors in the model-predicted atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles that enter the radiative transfer calculations, but rather are due to the radiation schemes themselves. A particular problem in these schemes is the accurate simulation of the thermal emission from the cold, dry, cloud-free atmosphere.

Gridded distributions of the annual mean temperature and annual total accumulation for Greenland are presented. They are objectively derived by deterministic and statistical interpolation from measurements at coastal stations and at locations on the ice sheet. They can be used not only for driving cryospheric models, but also for verifying atmospheric simulations.

Knowledge of the distribution of solar energy at the earth's surface is required for various practical and theoretical purposes. The solar fluxes calculated in Re-Analysis projects are promising since their radiative transfer calculations take into account the best current estimates of the humidity and temperature structure in the atmosphere. The present study assesses the quality of the insolation climatology of the ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA) using a comprehensive set of surface observations. It is shown that the ERA surface insolation climatology is in good agreement with more than 700 long-term monitoring sites. The biases are substantially smaller than generally found in GCMs, which typically overestimate the surface insolation due to an underestimated atmospheric shortwave absorption. Contributing to the quality of the ERA insolation climatology is not only the realistic structure of the overlying atmosphere, but also the accurate performance of the radiation scheme under clear-sky conditions. This is shown in off-line calculations with the ERA radiation scheme using prescribed atmospheric profiles from radiosondes as input. Overall, the paper suggests that the ERA reproduces the global distribution of solar energy at the surface with considerable skill and that the ERA insolation climatology may be useful for various applications.

To support climate research, the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) initiated a new radiometric network, the Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN). The network aims at providing validation material for satellite radiometry and climate models. It further aims at detecting long-term variations in irradiances at the earth's surface, which are believed to play an important role in climate change. The network and its instrumentation are designed 1) to cover major climate zones, 2) to provide the accuracy required to meet the objectives, and 3) to ensure homogenized standards for a long period in the future. The limits of the accuracy are defined to reach these goals. The suitable instruments and instrumentations have been determined and the methods for observations and data management have been agreed on at all stations. Measurements of irradiances are at 1 Hz, and the 1-min statistics (mean, standard deviation, and extreme values) with quality flags are stored at a centralized data archive at the WCRP's World Radiation Monitoring Center (WRMC) in Zurich, Switzerland. The data are quality controlled both at stations and at the WRMC. The original 1-min irradiance statistics will be stored at the WRMC for 10 years, while hourly mean values will be transferred to the World Radiation Data Center in St. Petersburg, Russia. The BSRN, consisting of 15 stations, covers the earth's surface from 80°N to 90°S, and will soon be joined by seven more stations. The data are available to scientific communities in various ways depending on the communication environment of the users. The present article discusses the scientific base, organizational and technical aspects of the network, and data retrieval methods; shows various application possibilities; and presents the future tasks to be accomplished.

The ability of a high resolution (T106) version of the ECHAM3 general circulation model to simulate regional scale surface radiative fluxes has been assessed using observations from a new compilation of worldwide instrumentally-measured surface fluxes (Global Energy Balance Archive, GEBA). The focus is on the European region where the highest density of observations is found, and their use for the validation of global and regional climate models is demonstrated. The available data allow a separate assessment of the simulated fluxes of surface shortwave, longwave, and net radiation for this region. In summer, the incoming shortwave radiation calculated by the ECHAM3/T106 model is overestimated by 45 W m−2 over most of Europe, which implies a largely unrealistic forcing on the model surface scheme and excessive surface temperatures. In winter, too little incoming shortwave radiation reaches the model surface. Similar tendencies are found over large areas of the mid-latitudes. These biases are consistent with deficiencies in the simulation of cloud amount, relative humidity and clear sky radiative transfer. The incoming longwave radiation is underestimated at the European GEBA stations predominantly in summer. This largely compensates for the excessive shortwave flux, leading to annual mean net radiation values over Europe close to observations due to error cancellation, a feature already noted in the simulated global mean values in an earlier study. Furthermore, the annual cycle of the simulated surface net radiation is strongly affected by the deficiencies in the simulated incoming shortwave radiation. The high horizontal resolution of the GCM allows an assessment of orographically induced flux gradients based on observations from the European Alps. Although the model-calculated and observed flux fields substantially differ in their absolute values, several aspects of their gradients are realistically captured. The deficiencies identified in the model fields are generally consistent at most stations, indicating a high degree of representativeness of the measurements for their larger scale setting.

The ability of a high resolution (T106) version of the ECHAM3 general circulation model to simulate regional scale surface radiative fluxes has been assessed using observations from a new compilation of worldwide instrumentally-measured surface fluxes (Global Energy Balance Archive, GEBA). The focus is on the European region where the highest density of observations is found, and their use for the validation of global and regional climate models is demonstrated. The available data allow a separate assessment of the simulated fluxes of surface shortwave, longwave, and net radiation for this region. In summer, the incoming shortwave radiation calculated by the ECHAM3/T106 model is overestimated by 45 W m–2 over most of Europe, which implies a largely unrealistic forcing on the model surface scheme and excessive surface temperatures. In winter, too little incoming shortwave radiation reaches the model surface. Similar tendencies are found over large areas of the mid-latitudes. These biases are consistent with deficiencies in the simulation of cloud amount, relative humidity and clear sky radiative transfer. The incoming longwave radiation is underestimated at the European GEBA stations predominantly in summer. This largely compensates for the excessive shortwave flux, leading to annual mean net radiation values over Europe close to observations due to error cancellation, a feature already noted in the simulated global mean values in an earlier study. Furthermore, the annual cycle of the simulated surface net radiation is strongly affected by the deficiencies in the simulated incoming shortwave radiation. The high horizontal resolution of the GCM allows an assessment of orographically induced flux gradients based on observations from the European Alps. Although the model-calculated and observed flux fields substantially differ in their absolute values, several aspects of their gradients are realistically captured. The deficiencies identified in the model fields are generally consistent at most stations, indicating a high degree of representativeness of the measurements for their larger scale setting.

Earth scientists, by definition, work in an interdisciplinary environment and therefore collect and disseminate data using distinct methods, depending on whether the associated information arises during field measurements, arrives via remote sensing, or represents simulation results. When calculating the global radiation over one of the oceans, for instance, it is essential that cloud data from at least three different sources can be accessed based on one and the same geographic grid. Differently gridded source data must therefore be reorganized, through interpolation for example. This can be done in different ways and we investigate a method whose practicality depends on fast spatial range queries, but in turn provides a flexibility that makes it particularly easy to accommodate differently organized data sets - a valuable feature when unanticipated grid organizations show up. 1 The crux of managing large Earth Science data sets Many data sets in the Earth Sciences resemble each othe...

The surface radiative fluxes of the ECHAM3 General Circulation Model (GCM) with T21, T42, and T106 resolutions have been validated using observations from the Global Energy Balance Archive (GEBA, World Climate Program-Water Project A7). GEBA contains the most comprehensive dataset now available for worldwide instrumentally measured surface energy fluxes. The GCM incoming shortwave radiation at the surface has been compared with more than 700 long-term monitoring stations. The ECHAM3 models show a clear tendency to overestimate the global annual-mean incoming shortwave radiation at the surface due to an underestimation of atmospheric absorption. The model-calculated global-mean surface shortwave absorption around 165 W M{sup -2} is estimated to be too high by 10-15 W m{sup -2}. A similar or higher overestimate is present in several other GCMs. Deficiencies in the clear-sky absorption of the ECHAM3 radiation scheme are proposed as a contributor to the flux discrepancies. A stand-alone validation of the radiation scheme under clear-sky conditions revealed overestimates of up to 50 W m{sup -2} for daily maximum values of incoming shortwave fluxes. Further, the lack of shortwave absorption by the model clouds is suggested to contribute to the overestimated surface shortwave radiation. There are indications that the incoming longwave radiation at the surface is underestimated in ECHAM3 and other GCMs. This largely offsets the overestimated shortwave flux in the global mean, so that the 102 W m{sup -2} calculated in ECHAM3 for the surface net radiation is considered to be a realistic value. A common feature of several GCMs is, therefore, a superficially correct simulation of global mean net radiation, as the overestimate in the shortwave balance is compensated by an underestimate in the longwave balance. 41 refs., 14 figs., 5 tabs.