Decreasing Cloudiness Over China: An Updated Analysis Examining Additional Variables
As preparation of the IPCC's Third Assessment Report takes place, one of the many observed climate variables of key interest is cloud amount. For several nations of the world, there exist records of surface-observed cloud amount dating back to the middle of the 20th Century or earlier, offering valuable information on variations and trends. Studies using such databases include Sun and Groisman (1999) and Kaiser and Razuvaev (1995) for the former Soviet Union, Angel1 et al. (1984) for the United States, Henderson-Sellers (1986) for Europe, Jones and Henderson-Sellers (1992) for Australia, and Kaiser (1998) for China. The findings of Kaiser (1998) differ from the other studies in that much of China appears to have experienced decreased cloudiness over recent decades (1954-1994), whereas the other land regions for the most part show evidence of increasing cloud cover. This paper expands on Kaiser (1998) by analyzing trends in additional meteorological variables for Chi na [station pressure (p), water vapor pressure (e), and relative humidity (rh)] and extending the total cloud amount (N) analysis an additional two years (through 1996).
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-96OR22464
- OSTI ID:
- 15052
- Report Number(s):
- ORNL/CP-104335; TRN: US200221%%356
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 11th Symposium on Global Change Studies, Long Beach, CA (US), 01/10/2000--01/14/2000; Other Information: PBD: 14 Jan 2000
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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