Graphical Abstract

Hayasaka, T., 2016: The long-term variation in surface shortwave irradiance in China and Japan: A review. J. Meteor. Soc. Japan, 94, 393-414.
https://doi.org/10.2151/jmsj.2016-024 Graphical Abstract with highlights

We reviewed the long-term trends and inter-annual variations in surface shortwave irradiance in China and Japan. Pyranometer observations indicated a decrease followed by an increase in shortwave irradiance in China and Japan during the period from the 1960s to 2000s, while obvious long-term trends were not found from satellite observations after 1983.
In China, surface shortwave irradiance decreased from 1961 to around 1990, but then began to increase. In Japan, on the other hand, the decreasing trend stopped in the 1960s, with little inter-annual variation during the 1970s and 1980s, and an increase that began around 1990.
The causes of the difference in shortwave irradiance trends between China and Japan were ascribed to an increase in light-absorbing aerosols in China since the 1960s and a decrease in absorbing aerosols in Japan since the late 1970s. Although these aerosol influences are generally found under clear-sky conditions, absorbing aerosol could have a direct effect even under cloudy-sky conditions.