Assessing climate forcings of the Earth system for the past millennium

[1] The effects of natural and anthropogenic forcings (solar activity, volcanism, atmospheric CO2 concentration, deforestation) on climate changes are estimated with the Earth system model of intermediate complexity, CLIMBER-2, for the past millennium. Simulated surface air temperatures for the Northern Hemisphere from the combined forcing correlate reasonably well with paleoclimatic data (r = 0.70). The largest negative anomalies occur when insolation minima coincide with volcanic eruptions. Anthropogenic forcings impose additional climate changes after 1850. The increasing warming from increasing CO2 concentrations is attenuated by the cooling effect from deforestation. Results from differently combined forcings suggest that the relatively cool climate in the second half of 19th century is largely attributable to cooling from deforestation

The EarthCARE satellite: the next step forward in global measurements of clouds, aerosols, precipitation, and radiation

The collective representation within global models of aerosol, cloud, precipitation, and their radiative properties remains unsatisfactory. They constitute the largest source of uncertainty in predictions of climatic change and hamper the ability of numerical weather prediction models to forecast high-impact weather events. The joint European Space Agency (ESA)–Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Earth Clouds, Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) satellite mission, scheduled for launch in 2018, will help to resolve these weaknesses by providing global profiles of cloud, aerosol, precipitation, and associated radiative properties inferred from a combination of measurements made by its collocated active and passive sensors. EarthCARE will improve our understanding of cloud and aerosol processes by extending the invaluable dataset acquired by the A-Train satellites CloudSat, Cloud–Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO), and Aqua. Specifically, EarthCARE’s cloud profiling radar, with 7 dB more sensitivity than CloudSat, will detect more thin clouds and its Doppler capability will provide novel information on convection, precipitating ice particle, and raindrop fall speeds. EarthCARE’s 355-nm high-spectral-resolution lidar will measure directly and accurately cloud and aerosol extinction and optical depth. Combining this with backscatter and polarization information should lead to an unprecedented ability to identify aerosol type. The multispectral imager will provide a context for, and the ability to construct, the cloud and aerosol distribution in 3D domains around the narrow 2D retrieved cross section. The consistency of the retrievals will be assessed to within a target of ±10 W m–2 on the (10 km)2 scale by comparing the multiview broadband radiometer observations to the top-of-atmosphere fluxes estimated by 3D radiative transfer models acting on retrieved 3D domains

[R1 resection in the region of the lower gastrointestinal tract: relevance and therapeutic consequences]

Incomplete resection (R1) and local recurrence of colorectal cancer continue to be a significant surgical problem. Radical resection of bowel and lymph node bassin are clearly necessary after incomplete endoscopic resection or local surgical excision. However, the situation is more difficult after previous conventional surgery. Anastomotic recurrence following resection and lymph nodal recurrence can often precede curative reresection. Locoregional lymph node metastases due to incomplete surgical clearance of the lympatic drainage of colonic cancer may also be cured by radical reresection. Despite application of neoadjuvant therapy, integration of modern surgical concepts such as the circumferential resection margin and advances in surgical technique, R1 resection of rectal cancer remains a major problem. Although primary surgical therapy may be considered in selected cases, this situation will require multimodal therapy in most instances