Geophysical processes and biosphere: article

Аnnotation: The model of a heat exchange at the Earth’s surface allowing the explaining of the apparent lag in temperature response to external radiation variations has proposed. According to the proposed model, the value of a phase shift between the external radiation forcing and surface temperature for a homogeneous half-space is equal to 45º. The phase shift decreases in case of the existence of a low-conductive layer at the Earth’s surface. The verification of the model was performed using meteorological, actinometric data as well as empirical data on the value of the lag in temperature response to long-term variations of external radiative forcing (orbital cycles). It was shown that the proposed model explains most of the observed time lags for different frequencies of external radiation, and therefore is the most universal one. Nevertheless, there remains the effect of another mechanisms, which are specific for different time scales and geographical situations.