Climate Monitoring with Earth Radiation Budget Measurements

The Earth Radiation Budget (ERB) and its geographical distribution is intimately linked with the earth's climate and with the general circulation. We analyze 10 years of global Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) measurements from 2000 to 2010 and 8 years of diurnally resolved Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) from 2004 to 2011 to illustrate this link and to verify if we can detect climate variability or systematic change. In response to the diurnal wave of solar heating three tropical convection maxima exist over South America, Africa, and around Indonesia. The Indonesian convection maximum is unstable due to a lack of a stabilizing land mass; this is the root cause of the El Nino/La Nina inter-annual variation with a global pattern of teleconnected variations through the general Walker circulation. Since 2000 a change in global dynamics seems to have occurred. There was a general strengthening of La Nina, coinciding with a 'break in global temperature rise', and with an 'eastern dimming', i.e. an increase of aerosols over Asia. There is a resemblance to the period of 'western dimming' from 1945 to 1980, and a contrast with the period of global temperature rise and El Nino strengthening from 1980 to 2000. It is of paramount importance that the suspected link between the eastern dimming, the strengthening of La Nina and the break in global temperature rise is thoroughly investigated. This can best be done by a move of a satellite of the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) series over the Indian Ocean. MSG provides diurnally resolved measurements of the key variables of the ERB, clouds and aerosols, and of the auxiliary variables of Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and static stability.