An Assessment of Global Dimming and Brightening during 1984–2018 Using the FORTH Radiative Transfer Model and ISCCP Satellite and MERRA-2 Reanalysis Data

In this study, an assessment of the FORTH radiative transfer model (RTM) surface solar radiation (SSR) as well its interdecadal changes (Δ(SSR)), namely global dimming and brightening (GDB), is performed during 35-year period 1984–2018. Furthermore, a thorough evaluation SSR (Δ(SSR)) conducted against high-quality reference measurements from 1193 Global Energy Balance Archive (GEBA) 66 Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) stations. For first time, FORTH-RTM Δ(SSR) was evaluated over extended 35 years with spatial resolution 0.5° × 0.625°. The RTM uses state-of-the-art input products such MERRA-2 ISCCP-H computes 35-year-long monthly GDB, which are compared to comprehensive dataset GEBA BSRN. Overall, deseasonalized anomalies correlate satisfactorily either (R equal 0.72) or BSRN 0.80). percentage agreement between sign computed 63.5% corresponding for 54.5%. obtained results indicate that considerable statistically significant increase in (Brightening) took place Europe, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Central NW African areas, some parts tropical oceans early 1980s late 2010s. On other hand, same period, strong decrease (Dimming) occurred western Tropical Pacific, India, Australia, Southern East China, Northern South America, oceans. A at 95% confidence level, −0.063 Wm−2 year−1 (or −2.22 Wm−2) 1984 2018 found entire globe, more prevalent oceanic than continental regions (−0.07 −0.03 year−1, respectively) both hemispheres. Yet, overall arose alternating decadal-scale changes, consisting 1984–1989, 1990s, turning into 2000–2009, 2010–2018.