reflection of incoming solar radiation off the surface of the earth is called albedo.
reflection of incoming solar radiation off the surface of the earth is called albedo.
reflection of incoming solar radiation off the surface of the earth is called?
albedo
the model will find the values of t and t that will allow the outgoing radiative power, escaping the top of the atmosphere, to be equal to the absorbed radiative power of sunlight. when applied to a planet like earth, the outgoing radiation will be longwave and the sunlight will be shortwave. these two streams of radiation will have distinct emission and absorption characteristics. in the idealized model, we assume the atmosphere is completely transparent to sunlight. the planetary albedo α is the fraction of the incoming solar flux that is reflected back to space (since the atmosphere is assumed totally transparent to solar radiation, it does not matter whether this albedo is imagined to be caused by reflection at the surface of the planet or at the top of the atmosphere or a mixture). the flux density of the incoming solar radiation is specified by the solar constant s. for application to planet earth, appropriate values are s=1366 w m and α=0.30. accounting for the fact that the surface area of a sphere is 4 times the area of its intercept (its shadow), the average incoming radiation is
idealized greenhouse model
the earth receives a total amount of radiation determined by its cross section (π·r²), but as it rotates this energy is distributed across the entire surface area (4·π·r²). hence the average incoming solar radiation, taking into account the angle at which the rays strike and that at any one moment half the planet does not receive any solar radiation, is one-fourth the solar constant (approximately 340 w/m²). the amount reaching the earth's surface (as insolation) is further reduced by atmospheric attenuation, which varies. at any given moment, the amount of solar radiation received at a location on the earth's surface depends on the state of the atmosphere, the location's latitude, and the time of day.
solar constant