Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy
Scientific paper
Mar 1996
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996apj...460l..69s&link_type=abstract
Astrophysical Journal Letters v.460, p.L69
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astronomy
1
Sun: General
Scientific paper
In this Letter, we provide a brief description of a new one-dimensional planetary atmospheric radiative-convective (PARC) model and its responses to solar forcings. To undertake this calculation, we ignore changing lower atmospheric effects and consider only variations in solar energy inputs. The model incorporates the following energies/transport processes: solar visible, IR, and UV radiations; and energy transports by conduction, eddy viscosity, and convection. We note the following changes over previous one-dimensional atmospheric models. (1) Rather than only a global energy balance, a detailed (local) energy balance is employed; thus, radiative and convective energy transports are both calculated explicitly, the latter with mixing-length theory (MLT). (2) The IR opacity of the atmospheric gases is calculated in a self-consistent fashion with the other energy inputs. The model was run with large solar variations sufficient to examine clearly possible solar forcing: variations of 10% in the "solar constant" and 9% in the solar UV. The model exhibits a 6.4 K and a 3 K increase in the lower atmospheric temperatures, respectively, to these forcings. The solar constant influence is similar to other climate models. The model responds significantly, however, to solar UV variations in a new and interesting fashion deserving of further study. The effect may be understood as a result of an elevation of the tau ~ 1 level in the atmosphere associated with the deposition of the UV energy. We suggest some observational tests: as solar activity increases, one would expect (1) the total optical depth of the model atmosphere in the IR to increase and (2) the altitude of the IR radiating region to increase. The model has numerous simplifications that warrant caution, if one were to assume blindly the results applied directly to the real Earth.
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