Sunshine can have a profound impact on the systematic change in climate elements, such as temperature and wind speed, and in turn affects many aspects of the human society. In recent years, there has been a substantial interest in the variation of sunshine duration due to the dramatic global climate change. Hence, there is a need to better understand the variation of sunshine duration in order ...

The average equilibrium temperature for all the Earth’s entities involved in its radiative balance with the Sun and Space, is given by: T (e) [K] = 278.9 [ ( 1 α ) / ε ] 1/4 The controlling factor is the ratio of the absorptivity, a = ( 1 α ), to the emissivity, ε . The quantity α is the Earth’s albedo. It is shown that relatively modest changes of only a few percent in α, brought about by vari...

Article history: Received 23 March 2009 Received in revised form 2 June 2009 Accepted 17 June 2009 The sub-monthly evolution of the interannual variations of absorbing aerosols and related hydrometeorology over South Asia in the pre-monsoon period is investigated from the analysis of pentad-resolution observational datasets. It is shown that pre-monsoon (late April–early May) variations are cha...

This study evaluated the differences in vitamin D3 synthesis two different latitudes throughout 1 year using an vitro model, which simulates cutaneous D photoproduction. Borosilicate ampoules containing 7-dehydrocholesterol (7-DHC) were exposed to sunlight hourly daylight hours, day per month for a year, Fortaleza (latitude 03° 43′ 01" S—LAT3° S) and Sao Paulo 23° 32′ 53" S—LAT23° S). Later, ph...

The linkages between the space-time variability of observed clouds, rainfall, large-circulation patterns and topography in northern India and the Himalayas were investigated using remote sensing data. The research purpose was to test the hypothesis that cloudiness patterns are dynamic tracers of rainstorms, and therefore their temporal and spatial evolution can be used as a proxy of the spatial...

Satellite-based precipitation, Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD), Cloud Optical Depth (COD), and Aerosol Index (AI) data were used to characterize the linkages among landform and the intra-annual variability of aerosols, cloudiness and rainfall in the Himalayas using empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis. The first modes of AOD and AI show the presence of two branches of dust aerosol: over the...