]> Solar radiation absorbed by the atmosphere's constituent gases, suspended material, clouds, or by the earth's surface. Absorbed Solar Radiation A significant increase in sea surface temperature over the eastern and central equatorial Pacific that occurs at irregular intervals, generally ranging between two and seven years. The most common of several names given toa significant decrease in sea surface temperature ("cold events") in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific. La Nina is the counterpart to the El Nino "warm event," and its spatial and temporal evolution in the equatorial Pacific is, to a considerable extent, the mirror image of El Nino, although La Nina events tend to be somewhat less regular in their behavior and duration. The climate of a natural region of small extent, for example, valley, forest, plantation, and park. Because of subtle differences in elevation and exposure, the climate may not be representative of the general climate of the region. Climate for periods prior to the development of measuring instruments, including historic and geologic time, for which only proxy climate records are available. Sunlight, in the broad sense, is the total spectrum of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun. On Earth, sunlight is filtered through the atmosphere, and the solar radiation is obvious as daylight when the Sun is above the horizon. This is usually during the hours known as day. Near the poles in summer, sunlight also occurs during the hours known as night and in the winter at the poles sunlight may not occur at any time. When the direct radiation is not blocked by clouds, it is experienced as sunshine, a combination of bright light and heat. Radiant heat directly produced by the radiation of the sun is different from the increase in atmospheric temperature due to the radiative heating of the atmosphere by the sun's radiation. When the direct radiation is not blocked by clouds, it is experienced as sunshine, a combination of bright light and heat. The Common Sense Climate Index is a simple measure of the degree (if any) to which practical climate change is occurring. The index is a composite of several everyday climate indicators. It is expected to have positive values when warming occurs and negative values for cooling. If the Index reaches and consistently maintains a value of 1 or more, the climate change should be noticeable to most people who have lived at that location for a few decades. The total electromagnetic radiation emitted by the sun. Longwave radiation originating by thermal emission from the earth's surface and/or its atmosphere