A230-0012
Detection of ENSO-driven OLR variability by FORUM/EE9

Wednesday, 16 December 2020
Poster
Martin Riese1, Bianca Maria Dinelli2, Felix Ploeger1, Mohamadou Diallo1, Robert Eerenstein1, Alessio Di Roma2,3 and Patrick Zulian2, (1)Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, IEK-7, Jülich, Germany, (2)CNR Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate, Bologna, Italy, (3)University of Bologna, DIFA, Bologna, Italy
Abstract:
The Far-infrared Outgoing Radiation Understanding and Monitoring (FORUM) mission has been selected to be the ESA 9th Earth Explorer mission. The instrument will measure the top of the atmosphere (TOA) outgoing radiance at nadir in a wide spectral range covering FIR (Far-Infrared) and TIR (Thermal Infrared) regions from 100 cm-1 to 1600 cm-1. The main target of the instrument, beside the measurement of the full spectrum of the Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR), is to provide constraints for the radiative feedbacks of water vapour and ice clouds.

Water vapour is the most important greenhouse gas in the Earth’s atmosphere. Its radiative feedback approximately doubles the radiative effects of anthropogenic greenhouse gases such as CO2 and CH4. However, there are major uncertainties in the magnitude of this feedback, in particular in the region of the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. Here we will show that the FORUM instrument is capable to detect changes in the OLR spectrum due changes of water vapour and other greenhouse gases resulting from short-term modes of climate variability such as El Nino.

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