. "2 State of Scientific Understanding." Radiative Forcing of Climate Change: Expanding the Concept and Addressing Uncertainties. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2005.
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Radiative Forcing of Climate Change: Expanding the Concept and Addressing Uncertainties
FIGURE 2-1 Estimated radiative forcings since preindustrial times for the Earth and troposphere system (TOA radiative forcing with adjusted stratospheric temperatures). The height of the rectangular bar denotes a central or best estimate of the forcing, while each vertical line is an estimate of the uncertainty range associated with the forcing, guided by the spread in the published record and physical understanding, and with no statistical connotation. Each forcing agent is associated with a level of scientific understanding, which is based on an assessment of the nature of assumptions involved, the uncertainties prevailing about the processes that govern the forcing, and the resulting confidence in the numerical values of the estimate. On the vertical axis, the direction of expected surface temperature change due to each radiative forcing is indicated by the labels “warming” and “cooling.” SOURCE: IPCC (2001).
restricted to changes in the radiation balance of the Earth-troposphere system imposed by external factors, with no changes in stratospheric dynamics, without any surface and tropospheric feedbacks in operation, and with no dynamically induced changes in the amount and distribution of atmospheric water. A somewhat broader perspective is applied in this chapter to include, in particular, volcanic aerosols, the effects of land-use changes and aerosols on precipitation, and the radiative forcing due to changes in ocean color.
