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Glossary beginning with R

R

Radiative Forcing

Radiative forcing is the change in the net vertical irradiance (expressed in Watts per square metre) at the tropopause due to an internal or external change in the forcing of the climate system, such as a change in the concentration of CO2 or the output of the Sun.

Reanalysis

Reanalyses are atmospheric and oceanic analyses of temperature, wind, current, and other meteorological and oceanographic quantities, created by processing past meteorological and oceanographic data using fixed state-of-the-art weather forecasting models and data assimilation techniques. Using fixed data assimilation avoids effects from the changing analysis system that occurs in operational analyses. Although continuity is improved, global reanalyses still suffer from changing coverage and biases in the observing systems.

[IPCC Fourth Assessment, Working Group I, Appendix I Glossary, p. 951]