Radiative climate forcing by the mount pinatubo eruption.

Radiative flux anomalies derived from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) spaceborne Earth Radiation Budget Experiment were used to determine the volcanic radiative forcing that followed the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in June 1991. They are the first unambiguous, direct measurements of large-scale volcanic forcing. The volcanic aerosols caused a strong cooling effect immediately; the amount of cooling increased through September 1991 as shortwave forcing increased relative to the longwave forcing. The primary effects of the aerosols were a direct increase in albedo over mostly clear areas and both direct and indirect increases in the albedo of cloudy areas.

Initial solar irradiance determinations from nimbus 7 cavity radiometer measurements.

Preliminary results from solar radiation measurements from the earth radiation budget experiment on the Nimbus 7 satellite yield a mean value of 1376.0 watts per square meter for the "solar constant" from 16 November 1978 to 15 May 1979. The observed variability (root-mean-square deviation) is +/- 0.73 watt per square meter (+/- 0.05 percent) for the period.