Metrological challenges for measurements of key climatological observables: Oceanic salinity and pH, and atmospheric humidity. Part 1: Overview.

ABSTRACT: Water in its three ambient phases plays the central thermodynamic role in the terrestrial climate system. Clouds control Earth's radiation balance, atmospheric water vapour is the strongest "greenhouse" gas, and non-equilibrium relative humidity at the air-sea interface drives evaporation and latent heat export from the ocean. On climatic time scales, melting ice caps and regional deviations of the hydrological cycle result in changes of seawater salinity, which in turn may modify the global circulation of the oceans and their ability to store heat and to buffer anthropogenically produced carbon dioxide. In this paper, together with three companion articles, we examine the climatologically relevant quantities ocean salinity, seawater pH and atmospheric relative humidity, noting fundamental

SUBMITTER: Feistel R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4759657 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature