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Science 6 May 2005:
Vol. 308. no. 5723, pp. 847 - 850
DOI: 10.1126/science.1103215
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Reports

From Dimming to Brightening: Decadal Changes in Solar Radiation at Earth's Surface

Martin Wild,1* Hans Gilgen,1 Andreas Roesch,1 Atsumu Ohmura,1 Charles N. Long,2 Ellsworth G. Dutton,3 Bruce Forgan,4 Ain Kallis,5 Viivi Russak,6 Anatoly Tsvetkov7

Variations in solar radiation incident at Earth's surface profoundly affect the human and terrestrial environment. A decline in solar radiation at land surfaces has become apparent in many observational records up to 1990, a phenomenon known as global dimming. Newly available surface observations from 1990 to the present, primarily from the Northern Hemisphere, show that the dimming did not persist into the 1990s. Instead, a widespread brightening has been observed since the late 1980s. This reversal is reconcilable with changes in cloudiness and atmospheric transmission and may substantially affect surface climate, the hydrological cycle, glaciers, and ecosystems.

1 Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Winter-thurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
2 Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Post Office Box 999, Richland, WA 99352, USA.
3 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory, 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80305, USA.
4 Bureau of Meteorology, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia.
5 Estonian Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, 61602 Toravere, Estonia.
6 Tartu Observatory, 61602 Toravere, Estonia.
7 World Radiation Data Centre, A. I. Voeikov Main Geophysical Observatory, 194021 Saint Petersburg, Russia.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: martin.wild{at}env.ethz.ch

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)