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Reflectivity Asymmetries

Notes:

This plot shows the relative differences between Northern hemisphere, Southern hemisphere and equatorial reflectivity.

In 1994-1995, there's a data anomaly, where a satellite went offline and another was moved over to compensate. The specific methodology used to adjust the data for different satellites in different positions failed to properly account for this. The jump in 1991 is related to Pinatubo. There appears to be another anomaly around 2006. The anomaly in 2000/2001 appears as an out of place sine wave curve centered near January 2001. All of these anomalies become more evident when the data is reconciled against physical models.

As indicated earlier, most of the change in the South is due to changing water reflectance, while in the North, it's due to variable snow and ice coverage.