Ground based radon-222 observations and their application to atmospheric studies.

The aim of this paper is to review recent trends in the application of ground based radon observations to atmospheric research. In spite of over four decades of atmospheric radon monitoring, only in the past decade has the potential of this passive tracer been realised through a series of atmospheric model evaluation studies. Firstly, the key operational requirements for baseline radon detectors are briefly discussed, including lower limit of detection and response time.

Modeling the Exchanges of Energy, Water, and Carbon Between Continents and the Atmosphere.

Atmospheric general circulation models used for climate simulation and weather forecasting require the fluxes of radiation, heat, water vapor, and momentum across the land-atmosphere interface to be specified. These fluxes are calculated by submodels called land surface parameterizations. Over the last 20 years, these parameterizations have evolved from simple, unrealistic schemes into credible representations of the global soil-vegetation-atmosphere transfer system as advances in plant physiological and hydrological research, advances in satellite data interpretation, and the results of large-scale field experiments have been exploited.

Modelling and monitoring 'Greenhouse' warming.

Greenhouse warming is now commonly accepted by politicians and the general public and is the subject of active research. This paper traces the greenhouse theory as far back as 1827, highlighting new directions and significant advances over that time. Three main themes emerge: that certain radiatively active gases are responsible for warming the planet; that humans are increasing the concentrations of these gases and hence inadvertently influencing this warming; that climate models are designed to permit prediction of the climatic changes resulting from changed loadings in these gases, but that they have not yet achieved this goal of prediction.