By utilizing satellite-based estimations of the distribution of clouds, we have studied Earth's large-scale cloudiness behavior according to latitude and surface types (ice, water, vegetation, and ...desert). These empirical relationships are used here to reconstruct the possible cloud distribution of historical epochs of Earth's history such as the Late Cretaceous (90 Ma ago), the Late Triassic (230 Ma ago), the Mississippian (340 Ma ago), and the Late Cambrian (500 Ma ago), when the landmass distributions were different from today's. With this information, we have been able to simulate the globally integrated photometric variability of the planet at these epochs. We find that our simple model reproduces well the observed cloud distribution and albedo variability of the modern Earth. Moreover, the model suggests that the photometric variability of the Earth was probably much larger in past epochs. This enhanced photometric variability could improve the chances for the difficult determination of the rotational period and the identification of continental landmasses for a distant planets.
Ongoing searches for exoplanetary systems have revealed a wealth of planets with diverse physical properties. Planets even smaller than the Earth have already been detected and the efforts of future ...missions are aimed at the discovery, and perhaps characterization, of small rocky exoplanets within the habitable zone of their stars. Clearly, what we know about our planet will be our guideline for the characterization of such planets. However, the Earth has been inhabited for at least 3.8 Gyr and its appearance has changed with time. Here, we have studied the Earth during the Archean eon, 3.0 Gyr ago. At that time, one of the more widespread life forms on the planet was purple bacteria. These bacteria are photosynthetic microorganisms and can inhabit both aquatic and terrestrial environments. Here, we use a radiative transfer model to simulate the visible and near-infrared radiation reflected by our planet, taking into account several scenarios regarding the possible distribution of purple bacteria over continents and oceans. We find that purple bacteria have a reflectance spectrum that has a strong reflectivity increase, similar to the red edge of leafy plants, although shifted redward. This feature produces a detectable signal in the disk-averaged spectra of our planet, depending on cloud amount and purple bacteria concentration/distribution. We conclude that by using multi-color photometric observations, it is possible to distinguish between an Archean Earth in which purple bacteria inhabit vast extensions of the planet and a present-day Earth with continents covered by deserts, vegetation, or microbial mats.
The Earth's albedo is a fundamental climate parameter for understanding the radiation budget of the atmosphere. It has been traditionally measured not only from space platforms but also from the ...ground for 16 years from Big Bear Solar Observatory by observing the Moon. The photometric ratio of the dark (earthshine) to the bright (moonshine) sides of the Moon is used to determine nightly anomalies in the terrestrial albedo, with the aim of quantifying sustained monthly, annual, and/or decadal changes. We find two modest decadal scale cycles in the albedo, but with no significant net change over the 16 years of accumulated data. Within the evolution of the two cycles, we find periods of sustained annual increases, followed by comparable sustained decreases in albedo. The evolution of the earthshine albedo is in remarkable agreement with that from the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System instruments, although each method measures different slices of the Earth's Bond albedo.
Key Points
We presente a new 16 year long global albedo record (a fundamental climate parameter) taken using the earthshine methodolgy
The Earth's reflectance presents decadal variability, but overall no long‐term trend is identified
The new data seem to agree well with the only other available albedo data set, the one from CERES instrumentation
Over the past few years, ground-and space-based atmospheric measurements have revealed a large inter-decadal variability in the amount of radiation reaching the Earth’s surface, also known as global ...dimming and brightening. However, the underlying physical causes of these changes remain unexplained. Clouds and aerosols, or their interactions, could both be responsible for the insolation changes, which in turn may impact the radiative balance of the planet. Here, making use of the special topology and clean environment of the Canary Islands, we compare trends in sunshine duration and temperature series, as a function of altitude. The temperature dataset is constituted by a series of mean, minimum and maximum temperatures, and daily temperature ranges. We find that the insolation and temperature trends are identical at sea level and at more than 2km height, but the changes in diurnal temperature range are not, suggesting a possible urban heat effect at the sea level location, as well as a possible different influence of clouds and/or aerosols at different altitudes. We also find that during the summer, especially at the high altitude site, there is a clear correspondence between daytime insolation and nighttime cloud-free atmospheric extinction measurements. This suggests that atmospheric aerosol concentrations are the major contributor to the variations in the flux of solar radiation reaching the ground at high altitude sites over the Canary Islands.
Understanding the spectral and photometric variability of the Earth and the rest of the solar system planets has become of utmost importance for the future characterization of rocky exoplanets. As ...this is not only interesting at present times but also along the planetary evolution, we studied the effect that the evolution of microbial mats and plants over land has had on the way our planet looks from afar. As life evolved, continental surfaces changed gradually and non-uniformly from deserts through microbial mats to land plants, modifying the reflective properties of the ground and most likely the distribution of moisture and cloudiness. Here, we used a radiative transfer model of the Earth, together with geological paleo-records of the continental distribution and a reconstructed cloud distribution, to simulate the visible and near-IR radiation reflected by our planet as a function of Earth's rotation. We found that the evolution from deserts to microbial mats and to land plants produces detectable changes in the globally averaged Earth's reflectance. The variability of each surface type is located in different bands and can induce reflectance changes of up to 40% in period of hours. We conclude that by using photometric observations of an Earth-like planet at different photometric bands it would be possible to discriminate between different surface types. While recent literature proposes the red-edge feature of vegetation near 0.7 mu m as a signature for land plants, observations in near-IR bands can be equally or even better suited for this purpose.
We report on the construction and magnetic characterization of a fully functional hybrid molecular system composed of a single magnetic porphyrin molecule bonded to graphene nanoribbons with ...atomically precise contacts. We use on-surface synthesis to direct the hybrid creation by combining two molecular precursors on a gold surface. High-resolution imaging with a scanning tunneling microscope finds that the porphyrin core fuses into the graphene nanoribbons through the formation of new carbon rings at chemically predefined positions. These ensure the stability of the hybrid and the extension of the conjugated character of the ribbon into the molecule. By means of inelastic tunneling spectroscopy, we prove the survival of the magnetic functionality of the contacted porphyrin. The molecular spin appears unaffected by the graphenoid electrodes, and we simply observe that the magnetic anisotropy appears modified depending on the precise structure of the contacts.
High-resolution Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) solar observations are particularly relevant for climate studies, as they allow atmospheric gaseous composition and multiple climate processes to be ...monitored in detail. In this context, the present paper provides an overview of 20 years of FTIR measurements taken in the framework of the NDACC (Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change) from 1999 to 2018 at the subtropical Izaña Observatory (IZO, Spain). Firstly, long-term instrumental performance is comprehensively assessed, corroborating the temporal stability and reliable instrumental characterization of the two FTIR spectrometers installed at IZO since 1999. Then, the time series of all trace gases contributing to NDACC at IZO are presented (i.e. C2H6, CH4, ClONO2, CO, HCl, HCN, H2CO, HF, HNO3, N2O, NO2, NO, O3, carbonyl sulfide (OCS), and water vapour isotopologues H216O, H218O, and HD16O), reviewing the major accomplishments drawn from these observations. In order to examine the quality and long-term consistency of the IZO FTIR observations, a comparison of those NDACC products for which other high-quality measurement techniques are available at IZO has been performed (i.e. CH4, CO, H2O, NO2, N2O, and O3). This quality assessment was carried out on different timescales to examine what temporal signals are captured by the FTIR records, and to what extent. After 20 years of operation, the IZO NDACC FTIR observations have been found to be very consistent and reliable over time, demonstrating great potential for climate research. Long-term NDACC FTIR data sets, such as IZO, are indispensable tools for the investigation of atmospheric composition trends, multi-year phenomena, and complex climate feedback processes, as well as for the validation of past and present space-based missions and chemistry climate models.
Retrieving high-precision concentrations of atmospheric trace gases from FTIR (Fourier transform infrared) spectrometry requires a precise knowledge of the instrumental performance. In this context, ...this paper examines the impact on the ozone (O3) retrievals of several approaches used to characterize the instrumental line shape (ILS) function of ground-based FTIR spectrometers within NDACC (Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change). The analysis has been carried out at the subtropical Izaña Observatory (IZO, Spain) by using the 20-year time series of the high-resolution FTIR solar absorption spectra acquired between 1999 and 2018. The theoretical quality assessment and the comparison to independent O3 observations available at IZO (Brewer O3 total columns and electrochemical concentration cell, ECC, sondes) reveal consistent findings. The inclusion of a simultaneous retrieval of the ILS parameters in the O3 retrieval strategy allows, on the one hand, a rough instrumental characterization to be obtained and, on the other hand, the precision of the FTIR O3 products to be slightly improved. The improvement is of special relevance above the lower stratosphere, where the cross-interference between the O3 vertical distribution and the instrumental performance is more significant. However, it has been found that the simultaneous ILS retrieval leads to a misinterpretation of the O3 variations on daily and seasonal scales. Therefore, in order to ensure the independence of the O3 retrievals and the instrumental response, the optimal approach to deal with the FTIR instrumental characterization is found to be the continuous monitoring of the ILS function by means of independent observations, such as gas cell measurements.
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