Abstract

To determine the effects of atmospheric aerosols on the radiative heating of the earth-atmosphere system, the radiative transfer equation is solved analytically in the two-stream approximation. It is found that the sign of the heating is independent of optical thickness of an aerosol layer and the amount of heating approaches a finite limit with increasing thickness of a layer. Limitations of the two-stream approximation are discussed.

Keywords

Radiative transferAerosolAtmosphere (unit)Environmental scienceSign (mathematics)Atmospheric sciencesLimit (mathematics)Atmospheric radiative transfer codesLayer (electronics)PhysicsComputational physicsMeteorologyMaterials scienceMathematicsOpticsMathematical analysis

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Publication Info

Year
1974
Type
article
Volume
183
Issue
4120
Pages
75-77
Citations
292
Access
Closed

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Cite This

Petr Chlek, James A. Coakley (1974). Aerosols and Climate. Science , 183 (4120) , 75-77. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.183.4120.75

Identifiers

DOI
10.1126/science.183.4120.75