IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/engenv/v25y2014i2p389-399.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Influence of Relative Humidity and Clouds on the Global Mean Surface Temperature

Author

Listed:
  • Jyrki Kauppinen
  • Jorma Heinonen
  • Pekka Malmi

Abstract

The explanation for climate change is still searching for an experimental proof and the most important question is whether climate change is anthropogenic. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC global warming is mostly man made due to the increasing CO 2 concentration. In this work we study the contributions of humidity and clouds to the surface temperature. We will show that changes of relative humidity or low cloud cover explain the major changes in the global mean temperature. We will present the evidence of this argument using the observed relative humidity between years 1970 and 2011 and the observed low cloud cover between years 1983 and 2008. One percent increase in relative humidity or in low cloud cover decreases the temperature by 0.15 °C and 0.11 °C, respectively. In the time periods mentioned before the contribution of the CO 2 increase was less than 10% to the total temperature change.

Suggested Citation

  • Jyrki Kauppinen & Jorma Heinonen & Pekka Malmi, 2014. "Influence of Relative Humidity and Clouds on the Global Mean Surface Temperature," Energy & Environment, , vol. 25(2), pages 389-399, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:engenv:v:25:y:2014:i:2:p:389-399
    DOI: 10.1260/0958-305X.25.2.389
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1260/0958-305X.25.2.389
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1260/0958-305X.25.2.389?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jasper Kirkby & Joachim Curtius & João Almeida & Eimear Dunne & Jonathan Duplissy & Sebastian Ehrhart & Alessandro Franchin & Stéphanie Gagné & Luisa Ickes & Andreas Kürten & Agnieszka Kupc & Axel Met, 2011. "Role of sulphuric acid, ammonia and galactic cosmic rays in atmospheric aerosol nucleation," Nature, Nature, vol. 476(7361), pages 429-433, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wei Nie & Chao Yan & Liwen Yang & Pontus Roldin & Yuliang Liu & Alexander L. Vogel & Ugo Molteni & Dominik Stolzenburg & Henning Finkenzeller & Antonio Amorim & Federico Bianchi & Joachim Curtius & Lu, 2023. "NO at low concentration can enhance the formation of highly oxygenated biogenic molecules in the atmosphere," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Bas van Geel & Peter A. Ziegler, 2013. "Ipcc Underestimates the Sun's Role in Climate Change," Energy & Environment, , vol. 24(3-4), pages 431-453, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:engenv:v:25:y:2014:i:2:p:389-399. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.