[1] The mean surface temperature of the Earth depends on various climate factors with much attention directed toward possible anthropogenic causes. However, one must first determine the stronger effects such as El Niño/La Niña and volcanoes. A weaker effect, which must exist, is solar irradiance. We have determined the solar effect on the temperature from satellites measurements (available since 1979) of the solar irradiance and the temperature of the lower troposphere. We find the sensitivity to solar irradiance to be about twice that expected from a no-feedback StefanBoltzmann radiation balance model. This climate gain of a factor of two implies positive feedback. We also have determined a linear trend in the data. These results are robust under truncation from either end of the of the data record. These measurements of solar sensitivity are consistent with prior estimates from ocean temperatures on decadal scales and of paleo-reconstructed temperatures on centennial scales.

ABSTRACT:We examine tropospheric temperature trends of 67 runs from 22 'Climate of the 20th Century' model simulations and try to reconcile them with the best available updated observations (in the tropics during the satellite era). Model results and observed temperature trends are in disagreement in most of the tropical troposphere, being separated by more than twice the uncertainty of the model mean. In layers near 5 km, the modelled trend is 100 to 300% higher than observed, and, above 8 km, modelled and observed trends have opposite signs. These conclusions contrast strongly with those of recent publications based on essentially the same data.

Measurements of the mechanical quality factor Q in a single crystal of silicon vs. temperature have been made. A value of 2x lO 9 has been measured at T=3.5K.We have been studying large dielectric and semiconductor single crystals as possible gravitational wave detectors. 1 These detectors are frequently cylinders instrumented to detect vibrations of the first longitudinal mode. One of the important desirable properties is a high mechanical quality factor Q. With an ideal transducer the sensitivity to gravitational waves is proportional to Q. The inverse quality factor Q-1 is a direct measure of the dominant mechanism of the attenuation of first sound. Measurements of Q are frequently the best way to gather information concerning the various internal loss mechanisms of a substance. In the region of very high Q (low loss) this sometimes is the only easy method. We report here on measurements on a large single crystal of silicon whose Q values exceed 10 9.The crystal was manufactured by Monsanto by the zero-dislocation Czochralski process in the form of a cylinder (diameter 10.6 cm, length 22.9 cm, mass 4.9 kg), with the [111] axis parallel to the cylinder axis. The ends were polished by the University of Rochester Institute of Optics personnel to better than one wavelength of light. The barrel of the crystal, somewhat wavy from the crystal growing process, was left in this state so that its edge deviates from straightness by -1 mm. The crystal is a p-type

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[1] We determine the volcano climate sensitivity l and response time t for the Mount Pinatubo eruption, using observational measurements of the temperature anomalies of the lower troposphere, measurements of the long wave outgoing radiation, and the aerosol optical density. Using standard linear response theory we find l = 0.15 ± 0.06 K/(W/m 2 ), which implies a negative feedback of À1.4 (+0.7, À1.6). The intrinsic response time is t = 6.8 ± 1.5 months. Both results are contrary to a paradigm that involves long response times and positive feedback.Citation: Douglass, D. H., and R. S. Knox (2005), Climate forcing by the volcanic eruption of Mount Pinatubo, Geophys.

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Updated tropical lower tropospheric temperature datasets covering the period 1979-2009 are presented and assessed for accuracy based upon recent publications and several analyses conducted here. We conclude that the lower tropospheric temperature (T LT ) trend over these 31 years is +0.09 ± 0.03 °C decade −1 . Given that the surface temperature (T sfc ) trends from three different groups agree extremely closely among themselves (~ +0.12 °C decade −1 ) this indicates that the -scaling ratio‖ (SR, or ratio of atmospheric trend to surface trend: T LT /T sfc ) of the observations is ~0.8 ± 0.3. This is significantly different from the average SR calculated from the IPCC AR4 model simulations which is ~1.4. This result indicates the majority of AR4 simulations tend to portray significantly greater warming in the troposphere relative to the surface than is found in observations. The SR, as an internal, normalized metric of model behavior, largely avoids the confounding influence of short-term fluctuations such as El Niños which make direct comparison of trend magnitudes less confident, even over multi-decadal periods. OPEN ACCESSRemote Sensing 2010, 2 2149

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