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
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.