From dimming to brightening: decadal changes in solar radiation at Earth's surface.
Variations in solar radiation incident at Earth's surface profoundly affect the human and terrestrial environment. A decline in solar radiation at land surfaces has become apparent in many observational records up to 1990, a phenomenon known as global dimming. Newly available surface observations from 1990 to the present, primarily from the Northern Hemisphere, show that the dimming did not persist into the 1990s. Instead, a widespread brightening has been observed since the late 1980s. This reversal is reconcilable with changes in cloudiness and atmospheric transmission and may substantially affect surface climate, the hydrological cycle, glaciers, and ecosystems.
Wild
Martin
M
Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Winter-thurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland. martin.wild@env.ethz.ch
Gilgen
Hans
H
Roesch
Andreas
A
Ohmura
Atsumu
A
Long
Charles N
CN
Dutton
Ellsworth G
EG
Forgan
Bruce
B
Kallis
Ain
A
Russak
Viivi
V
Tsvetkov
Anatoly
A