As solar energy enters our atmosphere, what two things happen to the energy?
Courtesy of SOHO consortium. SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) is a project of international cooperation between the European Space Agency and NASA.
Did yous know that the sun blasts more than a billion tons of matter out into space at millions of kilometers per hr? Ultimately, energy from the dominicus is the driving force behind weather condition and climate, and life on earth. But what kinds of energy come up from the sun? How does that energy travel through space? And what happens when it reaches earth?
RADIANT ENERGY
Copyright 2000-2001 Academy Corporation for Atmospheric Enquiry. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.
The sun emits many forms of electromagnetic radiation in varying quantities. As shown in the diagram (opposite), almost 43 percent of the full radiant energy emitted from the sun is in the visible parts of the spectrum. The bulk of the balance lies in the
nearly-infrared (49 percent) and ultraviolet department (7 percent). Less than ane percent of solar radiation is emitted every bit 10-rays, gamma waves, and radio waves.
The transfer of free energy from the dominicus across nearly empty space (remember that space is a vacuum) is achieved primarily past radiations. Radiation is the transfer of free energy by electromagnetic moving ridge motion.
Showtime Cease: EARTH'S Atmosphere
Once the sun's energy reaches earth, it is intercepted first by the atmosphere. A minor part of the dominicus's free energy is directly absorbed, particularly by certain gases such as ozone and h2o vapor.
Some of the sun's energy is reflected dorsum to space by clouds and the earth'southward surface.
Copyright 2000-2001 University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.
Most of the radiation, notwithstanding, is absorbed by the earth's surface. When the radiation is absorbed by a substance, the atoms in the substance move faster and the substance becomes warm to the touch. The absorbed energy is transformed into estrus energy. This heat free energy plays an of import role in regulating the temperature of the earth's crust, surface waters, and lower atmosphere.
Every surface on world absorbs and reflects energy at varying degrees, based on its color and texture. Night-colored objects absorb more visible radiations; light-colored objects reverberate more visible radiation. Shiny or smooth objects reflect more than, while dull or crude objects absorb more than. Differences in reflection impact temperature, atmospheric condition, and climate.
Reflect OR ABSORB?
Scientists use the term albedo to depict the percent of solar radiations reflected back into space by an object or surface.
A perfectly blackness surface has an albedo of 0 (all radiations is absorbed). A perfectly white surface has an albedo of i.0 (all radiation is reflected).
Different features of world (such as snow, ice, tundra, bounding main, and clouds) have different albedos. For example, state and ocean accept low albedos (typically from 0.1 to 0.iv) and blot more energy than they reflect. Snow, ice, and clouds take high albedos (typically from 0.vii to 0.9) and reflect more energy than they blot.
World's average albedo is nearly 0.3. In other words, nearly 30 percentage of incoming solar radiation is reflected back into space and 70 percent is absorbed.
A sensor aboard NASA's Terra satellite is now collecting detailed measurements of how much sunlight the world'due south surface reflects back up into the atmosphere. Past quantifying precisely our planet's albedo, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) is helping scientists sympathise and predict how diverse surface features influence both short-term weather patterns likewise equally longer-term climate trends.
Image courtesy of NASA Earth Observatory.
The colors in this image emphasize the albedo over the earth's land surfaces, ranging from 0.0 to 0.4. Areas colored reddish evidence the brightest, most reflective regions; yellows and greens are intermediate values; and blues and violets show relatively nighttime surfaces. White indicates where no data were available, and no albedo data are provided over the oceans.
As shown in the prototype, the snow- and ice-covered Arctic has a high albedo. (Though no data were available, Antarctica would besides have a high albedo.) Desert areas, such equally the Sahara in Northern Africa, also reverberate a great deal of radiation. Forested areas or areas with dark soil absorb more radiation and take lower albedos.
Human and natural processes have inverse the albedo of globe'southward land surfaces. For case, earth's average albedo was much higher during the last ice historic period than information technology is today. Human being impacts such equally deforestation, air pollution, and the subtract in Arctic body of water ice have also affected albedo values. These changes alter the cyberspace amounts of energy absorbed and radiated back to space.
Globe'S Radiations BUDGET
NASA Atmospheric Science Data Center. Used with permission.
Earth'south radiation budget is a concept that helps us understand how much energy World receives from the Dominicus, and how much energy Earth radiates back to outer infinite.
Changes in the earth's crust such as glaciation, deforestation, and polar water ice melting alter the quantity and wavelength of electromagnetic absorption and reflection at the globe'southward surface.
Water ice, Climate change, AND THE EARTH'South ENERGY BUDGET
Ice affects the entire earth system in a variety of ways. In the ocean and at the state-body of water boundary, water ice prevents relatively warm ocean water from evaporating, transferring heat to the colder atmosphere and thereby increasing global air temperature.
Prototype courtesy of Hugo Ahlenius, UNEP/Filigree-Arendal Maps and Graphics Library.
Ice also reflects sunlight, thus preventing boosted heat from being captivated by h2o or land. The water ice-covered polar regions are colder than other places on world, due in part to the loftier albedo of the snow and ice embrace.
As globe'southward climate warms, ice in the class of glaciers and sea ice has decreased dramatically. Data generated from satellites that monitor the formation of polar sea water ice indicate that both coverage and thickness accept decreased over the past three decades. Recent studies show that the world'due south highest glaciers (in the Himalayas) are receding at an average charge per unit of x to 15 meters (33 to 49 feet) per year. A written report released in June 2008 indicates that Chill bounding main ice extent shrank to a record low in the summer of 2007.
The decreasing extent of ice in the polar regions (in particular, the ocean water ice of the Arctic) is part of a positive feedback loop that can accelerate climate modify. Warmer temperatures melt snow and water ice, which decreases earth'southward albedo, causing further warming and more melting.
Human activities that create pollution besides influence the energy residue. For example, when we burn coal, oil, wood, and other fuels, the carbon byproduct, soot, is released into the temper and somewhen deposited dorsum on world. The dark particles land on snowfall and water ice, and decrease albedo. The darkened snow and ice absorb more than radiation than pure snow and ice. In improver, every bit the snow and ice melt, the soot embedded in the snow is left behind and becomes more than full-bodied on the surface, further accelerating warming.
IN Conclusion
There'south no uncertainty most it – without the sun's radiant energy, life on world would non exist. But equally the earth warms and polar ice declines, the residual of absorbed and reflected energy shifts – leading to farther change.
Resources
Earth's Albedo and Global Warming
This interactive activeness adjusted from NASA and the U.Due south. Geological Survey illustrates the concept of albedo – the measure out of how much solar radiation is reflected from Globe'due south surface.
Earth'southward Cryosphere: The Arctic
This 4-minute video segment adapted from NASA uses satellite imagery to provide an overview of the cryosphere (the frozen parts of the earth's surface) in the Northern Hemisphere, including the Arctic.
Earth's Cryosphere: Antarctica
This video segment adapted from NASA uses satellite imagery to provide an overview of the cryosphere in the Antarctic.
Arctic Sea Ice News & Analysis
The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) provides the latest news, research, and analysis of Arctic bounding main ice.
Bounding main Level: Ice Volume Changes
This resources provides a simulation of icebergs and glaciers melting and the impact melting has on sea level.
NATIONAL SCIENCE Educational activity STANDARDS: SCIENCE CONTENT STANDARDS
The entire National Science Didactics Standards document can be read online or downloaded for costless from the National Academies Press web site. The post-obit excerpt was taken from Affiliate 6.
A study of energy, the lord's day, and albedo aligns with the Physical Science, Earth and Infinite Science, and the Science in Personal and Social Perspectives content standards of the National Science Education Standards:
Concrete Science (Content Standard B): Grades K-4
As a consequence of their activities in grades Chiliad-four, all students should develop an agreement of backdrop of objects and materials including light, heat, electricity, and magnetism.
- Objects take many observable backdrop, including size, weight, shape, color, temperature, and the ability to react with other substances. Those properties can be measured using tools, such as rulers, balances, and thermometers.
- Light travels in a directly line until it strikes an object. Light can exist reflected by a mirror, refracted by a lens, or absorbed by the object.
- Rut can be produced in many ways, such as burning, rubbing, or mixing one substance with another. Oestrus can move from one object to some other by conduction.
Physical Science (Content Standard B): Grades five-eight
Equally a outcome of their activities in grades 5-8, all students should develop an understanding of earth in the solar system.
- The sun is the major source of free energy for phenomena on the globe'due south surface, such as growth of plants, winds, bounding main currents, and the water bike.
- Seasons effect from variations in the amount of the sun'southward free energy hitting the surface, due to the tilt of the earth's rotation on its centrality and the length of the day.
Scientific discipline in Personal and Social Perspectives (Content Standard F): Grades K-4
Equally a result of their activities in grades K-4, all students should develop an understanding of changes in environments.
- Environments are the space, conditions, and factors that affect an individuals' and a populations' ability to survive and their quality of life.
- Changes in environments can exist natural or influenced past humans. Some changes are expert, some are bad, and some are neither proficient nor bad.
- Some ecology changes occur slowly, and others occur quickly.
Scientific discipline in Personal and Social Perspectives (Content Standard F): Grades five-8
As a result of their activities in grades 5-viii, all students should develop an agreement of natural hazards.
- Human being activities tin can induce hazards through resource conquering, urban growth, land-utilize decisions, and waste disposal. Such activities can accelerate many natural changes.
This article was written by Kimberly Lightle. For more than information, run into the Contributors page. Email Kimberly Lightle, Principal Investigator, with any questions about the content of this site.
Copyright October 2008 – The Ohio Country University. This material is based upon piece of work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0733024. Whatsoever opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the writer(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. This work is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons license .
Source: https://beyondpenguins.ehe.osu.edu/issue/energy-and-the-polar-environment/solar-energy-albedo-and-the-polar-regions
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