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Interannual Variability
The final photograph of this set (Figure
8) shows the standard deviation of
the change in annual outgoing longwave radiation for ten summer (June,
July, and August) periods and ten winter (December, January, and February)
periods. The standard deviation reveals regions of highest variability
from one winter (or summer) season to the next. This shows that June,
July and August do not experience large changes from one year to the next
but, rather, tend to be reasonably constant. On the other hand, in the
Northern Hemisphere winter, a region along the equator has a very high
variability: that is, it can be extremely warm one year and quite cool the
next. This shows that there is something quite peculiar occurring in this
region. We will come back to study this phenomenon in more detail when we
consider El Nino.
A recent (Oct. 2000) NASA report suggests clouds in a warmer climate will be thinner and contribute less to global cooling than previously thought.
NEXT: Jet Contrails Impact on the Radiation Budget
