Question

Problem #2 Over the last century, the summertime minimum air temperature during the day across the mid-continental North America shows an upward trend. The amount of increase corresponds to about 6 W m2 additional radiation forcing. Some speculate that the increase is due to enhanced atmospheric thermal radiation at the surface. The thermal radiation increase is partially blamed on observed increases in atmospheric humidity because of all the irrigation that is increasing applied across the region. If the summertime minimum air temperature was 15°C and the dew-point temperature was 13°C on average for the record at the beginning of the century and they now stand at 15.5°C and 15°C respectiveiy, how much more atmospheric thermal radiation (in W m2) do you expect? is it enough to explain the trend in the data?

Answer 1

n Cuntu 15.5+233 15 f233