a. Global Mean Values
Below, atmospheric structures that have reached an equilibrium state
will be examined. Specifically, the behavior of changes in the
atmospheric thermodynamic conditions and circulation field caused by
the change of solar constant will be examined
Table 1 summarizes changes of the global mean values of various
physical variables caused by change of solar constant. The values of
all the physical properties listed in the table increase with an
increasing solar constant. An examination of the increasing trends
of the kinetic energy, KE, dry static energy, SE, and latent heat
energy, LE, reveals that the increase of LE is particularly
notable. Regarding the changes of physical variables from Experiment
S1380 to Experiment S1570, KE and SE increase by a maximum of only
1.2 times. However, LE increases by as much as 4.3 times between the
two experiments. This result implies a sharp increase in the water
vapor content in response to the increase of solar
constant. Increased water vapor content, in turn, causes an increase
in the total mass of the atmosphere, which is apparent in the change
in surface pressure, ps. Because of the increased water vapor
content, the atmosphere becomes optically thick, and surface
temperature increases as well. In addition to an increase in the
water vapor content in the atmosphere, an increasing solar constant
brings forth an active hydrological circulation, which causes a
further increase in precipitation.
| Experimental name |
ps
(mb) |
Tg
(K) |
τ |
P
(W/m2) |
KE
(J/m2) |
SE
(J/m2) |
LE
(J/m2) |
S1200 |
1000.54 |
272.9 |
2.07 × 10-1 |
20.9 |
1.17 × 106 |
5.10 × 109 |
3.31 × 107 |
S1380 |
1002.41 |
288.1 |
5.42 × 10-1 |
76.6 |
1.76 × 106 |
5.37 × 109 |
8.67 × 107 |
S1500 |
1007.37 |
303.4 |
1.38 |
148.7 |
1.89 × 106 |
5.68 × 109 |
2.21 × 108 |
S1550 |
1013.26 |
309.1 |
1.81 |
190.1 |
2.03 × 106 |
5.81 × 109 |
2.90 × 108 |
S1570 |
1016.47 |
314.2 |
2.35 |
223.6 |
2.11 × 106 |
5.90 × 109 |
3.76 × 108 |
Table 1 : Global mean values of physical variables
of the atmosphere in the equilibrium states. All values represent
time-average values from the period between Day 950 and Day
1000. ps: surface pressure. Tg:
surface temperature. τ: total optical depth. P: precipitation. KE:
kinetic energy. SE: dry static energy. LE: latent heat energy.
