Incoming, Outgoing Radiation
Slide 15 in this series.
A quick look at the input energy and the outgoing energy of earth. Incoming is short wave and the outgoing is longwave.
Energy balance is needed in order to stablize temperature averages. Clearly with the earth's surface being both round and traveling at 1000 miles an hour, the solar energy hitting the atmosphere is variable from any point on the surface.
This creates a highly dynamic situation in a climate system that has highly non-linear phenomena. Couple that wiht the variation of the earth's surface and ocean currents and the chaotic nature ot the climate is more apparent.
NEXT: Looking at the sun and the planets in our solar system we can learn more about how energy is balanced.
These links are the topics for this section.
Modelling Temp Natural Factors
Earth and the Science of Radiation
Milankovith Overlapping Cycles
