Is there a seasonal variation in net radiative forcing?

Question

The IPCC report gives global and annual averages. Are there any peer reviewed papers that attempt to determine net radiative forcing on finer temporal and spatial scales or does convection render the question meaningless? Is the heat content of the earth as a whole increasing faster or slower when surface temperatures are lower and convection is neglected?

Answer 1

Of course.  IR Radiation is directly proportional to temperature.  

You DO think now and then, don't you?

"Is the heat content of the earth as a whole increasing faster or slower..."

Why would it only be INCREASING?

Answer 2

Just look up the Albedo temperature effect. It's all old news.They do explore the temporal logic and include it as a function, but short lived compared to CO2.

Edit: your right..."sorry, just a really bad day for me."

Answer 3

The seasonal variation in the net radiative forcing differs between hemispheres because the concentration of CO2 and H2O and all the RITS display seasonal variation.  Since the summer/winter seasonal cycles are 180 degrees out of phase (see plot below (it's from some quiche-eater liberal commie f*g-b*****d website but only because I am too lazy to dig the data out of CDIAC)) and the distribution of land/water isn't the same, the amplitude of the cycles isn't the same either.  Therefore, rather than give the seasonal dependence of the radiative forcing, IPCC and everyone else gives the average because if you gave the seasonal dependence you would be giving a lot of different numbers (e.g., Austrul summer, Boreal winter etc.).  

There are any number of plots of seasonal and locationally resolved radiative forcings available on the web.  I suggest googling terms like "radiative forcing latitude dependence" and such.  Looking in google/images will get you right to the figures.  There is a nice map of the spatial distribution of the CO2 forcing (alas, seasonally averaged) on the LDEO website somewhere (I've linked to it in previous answers and am too lazy to dig it out).  That plot shows the CO2 forcing is extremely uniform spatially (mainly since there is relatively little variance in atmospheric CO2 globally).