Climate Forcing
Climate forcing data about factors potentially affecting climate, including volcanic eruptions, solar variability, trace gasses and aerosols, and Milankovitch orbital variations.
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Orbital Variations
Variations in the earth's orbit around the sun, known as Milankovitch forcing, affect the distribution of solar energy about the globe, resulting in changes in seasonality and climate.
- Orbital Variations, 5,000,000 Years, Berger and Loutre 1991
- Integrated Summer Insolation, 5,000,000 Years, Huybers 2006
- Orbital Variations, -50 to +20 MYrs, Preliminary, Laskar et al. (from IMCCE)
Solar Variability
The output of energy from the sun varies slightly over time, changing the total amount of energy absorbed by the earth's atmosphere and affecting climate.
- Reconstructed Solar Irradiance, 1,200 Years, Bard et al. 2000
- Antarctic 10Be and Reconstructed TSI, 1,000 Years, Delaygue and Bard 2010, Text or Excel
- Reconstructed Solar Irradiance, 400 Years, Lean 2000
- Reconstructed Solar Irradiance, 400 Years, Lean et al. 1995
- Reconstructed Solar Irradiance, 9,300 Years, Steinhilber et al. 2009
- Cosmogenic Isotopes and Solar Activity, 9,400 Years, Steinhilber et al. 2012, Text or Excel
- Reconstructed Sunspot Numbers, 11,400 Years, Solanki et al. 2004
- Radionuclide-Based Solar Magnetic Activity, 1,000 Years, Muscheler et al. 2007, Text or Excel
- GISP2 10Be, 40,000 Years, Finkel and Nishiizumi 1997
- GRIP 10Be, 386,000 Years, Yiou et al. 1997, Wagner et al. 2001, Baumgartner et al. 1997
- Volcanic and Solar Forcing of the Tropical Pacific, 1,000 Years, Mann et al. 2005
- Reconstructed Cosmic Rays, 400 Years, Usoskin et al. 2002 and 2005, Alanko-Huotari et al. 2006
- Cosmic Ray Induced Ionization (CRII) Rate Reconstruction, 2,000 Years, Usoskin et al. 2008
Volcanic Aerosols
Volcanic eruptions can inject large amounts of aerosols into the atmosphere, increasing the earth's albedo, or reflectivity, and cooling the climate.
- Monthly Volcanic Forcing Data for Climate Modeling, 110 Years, Ammann et al. 2003
- Global and Hemispheric Volcanic Climate Forcing, 1,200 Years, Crowley and Unterman 2013
- Stratospheric Volcanic Sulfate Data, 1,500 Years, Gao et al. 2008: Data Description; Global and Hemispheric Annual Stratospheric Volcanic Sulfate Aerosol Injections; or Monthly, Latitudinally, and Height-Dependent Aerosol Loading, Text or Binary
- Volcanic Sulfate, 390 Years, Zielinski et al. 1994
- Hypothesized Climate Forcing Time Series for the Last 500 Years, Robertson et al. 2001
- Statistical Analysis of Tropical Volcanic Events, 600 Years, Ammann and Naveau 2003
- Major Volcanic Eruptions, 600 Years, Briffa et al. 1998
- Volcanic and Solar Forcing of the Tropical Pacific, 1,000 Years, Mann et al. 2005
- EPICA Dronning Maud Land Volcanic Sulfate, 2,000 Years, Traufetter et al. 2004, Text or Excel
- Volcanic Eruptions and Aerosol Optical Depth, 40,000 Years, Bryson 1988
- GISP2 Volcanic Markers, 110,000 Years, Zielinski and Mershon 1997
Tropospheric Aerosols
Tropospheric aerosols can affect formation of clouds, as well as increase the earth's albedo and cool the climate.
- GISP2 ATM Aerosols, 2 Years, Dibb and Jaffrezo 1997
- GISP2 Insoluble Microparticles, 3,600 Years, Zielinski and Mershon 1997
- GISP2 LLS Dust, 111 KYrBP to12 KYrBP, Ram and Koenig 1997
- GISP2 LLS Dust, 400 Years, Donarummo et al. 2002
- GISP2 Ions: B Core (0 to 200 Meters), 700 Years, Mayewski et al. 1997
- GISP2 Ions: Deep (D) Core, 111,000 Years, Mayewski et al. 1997
- GISP2 Ions: Deep (D) Core (Detailed), 100,000 Years, Mayewski et al. 1997
- GISP2 Ions: Shallow (B) Core (Detailed), 700 Years, Mayewski et al. 1997
- GRIP Acidity, 4,000 Years, Clausen et al. 1997
- GRIP Ion Concentrations, 386,000 Years, De Angelis et al. 1997
- Vostok Dust Concentration, 421,000 Years, Petit et al. 1999
- Quelccaya Microparticles, 1,500 Years, Thompson et al. 1989
- Volcanic Eruptions and Aerosol Optical Depth, 40,000 Years, Bryson 1988
- Hypothesized Climate Forcing Time Series for the Last 500 Years, Robertson et al. 2001
- DIRTMAP Eolian Flux Database Version 2, 18,000 Years, Kohfeld and Harrison 2001
- DIRTMAP Eolian Flux Database Version 1, 18,000 Years, Mahowald et al. 1999
Atmospheric Trace Gases
Carbon dioxide, methane, and other trace gases absorb infrared energy, resulting in greenhouse warming of the earth.
- GRIP Methane, 39,000 Years, Blunier et al. 1995
- GISP2 Methane, 110,000 Years, Brook et al. 1996
- Law Dome CH4, 1,000 Years, Etheridge et al. 1998
- Vostok Methane, 417,000 Years, Petit et al. 1999
- Vostok CO2, 414,000 Years, Petit et al. 1999
- GEOCARB III Phanerozoic Atmospheric CO2, 570 Million Years, Berner and Kothavala 2001
- Cenozoic Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide, 60 Million Years, Pearson and Palmer 2000
- Paleozoic Atmospheric CO2, ~400 to 280 Million YrBP, McElwain and Chaloner 1995, Text or Excel
- Paleogene Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide, 45 to 25 Million YrBP, Pagani et al. 2005, Text or Excel
- LOSCAR Model Paleocene-Eocene pCO2, ~56 Million YrBP, Zeebe 2012, Text or Excel
- Phanerozoic Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide, Last 542 Million Years, Royer et al. 2006, Text or Excel
- Tertiary Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide, 58 to 15 Million YrBP, Royer et al. 2001, Text or Excel
- Neogene Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide, Last 20 Million Years, Tripati et al. 2009, Text or Excel
- Hypothesized Climate Forcing Time Series for the Last 500 Years, Robertson et al. 2001
Climate Forcing Research Datasets
Several published collections of various types of climate forcing data are archived at the World Data Center for Paleoclimatology.
- Forcing and Model Results for the Past 1,000 Years, Crowley 2000
- Hypothesized Climate Forcing Time Series for the Last 500 Years, Robertson et al. 2001
- Volcanic Eruptions and Aerosol Optical Depth, 40,000 Years, Bryson 1988
- Volcanic and Solar Forcing of the Tropical Pacific, 1,000 Years, Mann et al. 2005
Contributing Data
Investigators who wish to contribute their data to our climate forcing archive can find information on contributing below. Data and study description information can be contributed by emailing your data to paleo@noaa.gov.
Other Data Archives
Additional sources of data and information on climate forcing.