greenhouse effect

Definitions
noun
1
1

an effect occurring in greenhouses, etc, in which radiant heat from the sun
passes through the glass warming the contents, the radiant heat from inside
being trapped by the glass
the application of this effect to a planet's atmosphere; carbon dioxide and some
other gases in the planet's atmosphere can absorb the infrared radiation emitted
by the planet's surface as a result of exposure to solar radiation, thus increasing
the mean temperature of the planet

Translations for 'greenhouse effect'

British English: greenhouse effect The greenhouse effect is the problem caused
by increased quantities of gases such as carbon dioxide in the air. These gases trap
the heat from the sun, and cause a gradual rise in the temperature of the Earth's
atmosphere.NOUN...gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect.the greenhouse
effect
Brazilian Portuguese: efeito estufa
Chinese:
European Spanish: efecto invernadero
French: effet de serre
German: Treibhauseffekt
Italian: effetto serra
Japanese:
Korean:
Portuguese: efeito estufa
Spanish: efecto invernadero


Greenhouse effect

A representation of the exchanges of energybetween the source (the Sun), the Earth'ssurface, the Ea
rth's atmosphere, and theultimate sink outer
space. The ability of theatmosphere to capture and recycle energyemitted by the Earth surface is the
definingcharacteristic of the greenhouse effect.

Another diagram of the greenhouse effect

The greenhouse effect is a process by which thermal radiation from a planetary surface isabsorbed
by atmospheric greenhouse gases, and is re-radiated in all directions. Since part ofthis reradiation is back towards the surface and the lower atmosphere, it results in an elevationof the averag
e surface temperature above what it would be in the absence of the gases.[1][2]
Solar radiation at the frequencies of visible
light largely passes through the atmosphere towarm the planetary surface, which then emits this ener
gy at the lower frequencies of infraredthermal radiation. Infrared radiation is absorbed by greenhouse
gases, which in turn re-radiatemuch of the energy to the surface and lower atmosphere. The mechani
sm is named after theeffect of solar radiation passing through glass and warming a greenhouse, but t
he way itretains heat is fundamentally different as a greenhouse works by reducing airflow, isolating th
ewarm air inside the structure so that heat is not lost by convection.[2][3][4]
If an ideal thermally conductive blackbody was the same distance from the Sun as the Earth is,it woul
d have a temperature of about 5.3 C. However, since the Earth reflects about 30%[5][6]of the incoming
sunlight, this idealized planet's effective
temperature (the temperature of ablackbody that would emit the same amount of radiation) would be
about 18 C.[7][8] Thesurface temperature of this hypothetical planet is 33 C below Earth's actual surf
acetemperature of approximately 14 C.[9] The mechanism that produces this difference betweenthe a
ctual surface temperature and the effective temperature is due to the atmosphere and isknown as the
greenhouse effect.[10]

Earths natural greenhouse effect makes life as we know it possible. However, human activities,primar
ily the burning of fossil fuels and clearing of forests, have intensified the naturalgreenhouse effect, cau
sing global warming.[11]

History
The existence of the greenhouse effect was argued for by Joseph
Fourier in 1824. Theargument and the evidence was further strengthened by Claude Pouillet in 1827
and 1838, andreasoned from experimental observations by John
Tyndall in 1859, and more fully quantified bySvante Arrhenius in 1896.[12][13]
In 1917 Alexander Graham
Bell wrote [The unchecked burning of fossil fuels] would have a sort of greenhouse effect, and The
net result isthe greenhouse becomes a sort of hot-house.[14][15] Bell went on to also advocate for the u
se of alternate energy sources, such as solar energy.[16]

Mechanism
The Earth receives energy from the Sun in the form UV, visible, and near IR radiation, most of which p
asses through the atmosphere withoutbeing absorbed. Of the total amount of energy available at the
top of the atmosphere (TOA), about 50% is absorbed at the Earth's surface.Because it is warm, the s
urface radiates far IR thermal radiation that consists of wavelengths that are predominantly much long
er than thewavelengths that were absorbed (the overlap between the incident solar spectrum and the
terrestrial thermal spectrum is small enough to beneglected for most purposes). Most of this thermal r
adiation is absorbed by the atmosphere and re-radiated both upwards and downwards; thatradiated d
ownwards is absorbed by the Earth's surface. This trapping of long-wavelength thermal radiation lead
s to a higher equilibriumtemperature than if the atmosphere were absent.
This highly simplified picture of the basic mechanism needs to be qualified in a number of ways, none
of which affect the fundamental process.

The solar radiation spectrum for direct lightat both the top of the Earth's atmosphere andat sea level

Synthetic stick absorption spectrum of asimple gas mixture corresponding to theEarth's atmosphere c
omposition based onHITRAN data [17] created using Hitran on theWeb system.[18] Green color - water
vapor,red - carbon dioxide, WN - wavenumber(caution: lower wavelengths on the right,higher on the
left).

The incoming radiation from the Sun is mostly in the form of visible light and nearbywavelengt
hs, largely in the range 0.24 m, corresponding to the Sun's radiative temperatureof 6,000 K.[19] Alm
ost half the radiation is in the form of "visible" light, which our eyes areadapted to use.[20]

About 50% of the Sun's energy is absorbed at the Earth's surface and the rest is reflected ora
bsorbed by the atmosphere. The reflection of light back into spacelargely by cloudsdoes not muc
h affect the basic mechanism; this light, effectively, is lost to the system.

The absorbed energy warms the surface. Simple presentations of the greenhouse effect,such
as the idealized greenhouse model, show this heat being lost as thermal radiation. Thereality is more
complex: the atmosphere near the surface is largely opaque to thermalradiation (with important excep
tions for "window" bands), and most heat loss from thesurface is by sensible heat and latent
heat transport. Radiative energy losses becomeincreasingly important higher in the atmosphere largel
y because of the decreasingconcentration of water vapor, an important greenhouse gas. It is more rea
listic to think of thegreenhouse effect as applying to a "surface" in the mid-troposphere, which is effec
tivelycoupled to the surface by a lapse rate.

The simple picture assumes a steady state. In the real world there is the diurnal cycle aswell
as seasonal cycles and weather. Solar heating only applies during daytime. During thenight, the atmo
sphere cools somewhat, but not greatly, because its emissivity is low, andduring the day the atmosph
ere warms. Diurnal temperature changes decrease with heightin the atmosphere.

Within the region where radiative effects are important the description given by the idealizedgr
eenhouse model becomes realistic: The surface of the Earth, warmed to a temperaturearound 255 K,
radiates long-wavelength, infrared heat in the range 4100 m.[19] At thesewavelengths, greenhouse
gases that were largely transparent to incoming solar radiation aremore absorbent.[19] Each layer of at
mosphere with greenhouses gases absorbs some of theheat being radiated upwards from lower layer
s. It re-radiates in all directions, both upwardsand downwards; in equilibrium (by definition) the same a
mount as it has absorbed. Thisresults in more warmth below. Increasing the concentration of the gase
s increases theamount of absorption and re-radiation, and thereby further warms the layers and ultim
atelythe surface below.[8]

Greenhouse gasesincluding most diatomic gases with two different atoms (such as carbon
monoxide, CO) and all gases with three or more atomsare able to absorb and emit infrared radiatio
n. Though more than 99% of the dryatmosphere is IR transparent (because the main constituents
N2, O2, and Arare not able to directly absorb or emit infrared radiation),intermolecular collisions cau
se the energy absorbed and emitted by the greenhouse gases to be shared with the other, non-IRactive,gases.

Greenhouse gases
By their percentage contribution to the greenhouse effect on Earth the four major gases are:[21][22]

water vapor, 3670%

carbon dioxide, 926%

methane, 49%

ozone, 37%
The major non-gas contributor to the Earth's greenhouse effect, clouds, also absorb and emit infrared
radiation and thus have an effect onradiative properties of the atmosphere.[22]

Role in climate change

The Keeling Curve of atmospheric CO2concentrations measured at Mauna Loa Observatory.

Strengthening of the greenhouse effect through human activities is known as the enhanced (oranthro
pogenic) greenhouse effect.[23] This increase in radiative
forcing from human activity isattributable mainly to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.[24] A
ccording to the latestAssessment Report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change,
"most of theobserved increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century is very li
kelydue to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations".[25]
CO2 is produced by fossil fuel burning and other activities such as cement production andtropical defo
restation.[26] Measurements of CO2 from the Mauna Loa observatory show thatconcentrations have inc
reased from about 313 ppm [27] in 1960 to about 389 ppm in 2010. Itreached the 400ppm milestone on
May 9, 2013.[28] The current observed amount of CO2exceeds the geological record maxima (~300 pp
m) from ice core data.[29] The effect ofcombustion-produced carbon dioxide on the global climate, a sp
ecial case of the greenhouseeffect first described in 1896 by Svante
Arrhenius, has also been called the Callendar effect.

Over the past 800,000 years,[30] ice core

data shows that carbon dioxide has varied from values as low as 180 parts per million (ppm) to thepre
-industrial level of 270ppm.[31] Paleoclimatologists consider variations in carbon dioxide concentration t
o be a fundamental factorinfluencing climate variations over this time scale.[32][33]

Real greenhouses

A modern Greenhouse in RHS Wisley

The "greenhouse effect" of the atmosphere is named by analogy to greenhouses which getwarmer in
sunlight, but the mechanism by which the atmosphere retains heat is different.[34] Agreenhouse works
primarily by preventing absorbed heat from leaving the structure throughconvection, i.e. sensible
heat transport. The greenhouse effect heats the earth becausegreenhouse gases absorb outgoing ra
diative energy and re-emit some of it back towards earth.
A greenhouse is built of any material that passes sunlight, usually glass, or plastic. It mainlyheats up b
ecause the Sun warms the ground inside, which then warms the air in thegreenhouse. The air continu
es to heat because it is confined within the greenhouse, unlike theenvironment outside the greenhous
e where warm air near the surface rises and mixes withcooler air aloft. This can be demonstrated by o
pening a small window near the roof of agreenhouse: the temperature will drop considerably. It has al
so been demonstratedexperimentally (R. W. Wood, 1909) that a "greenhouse" with a cover of rock
salt (which istransparent to infra red) heats up an enclosure similarly to one with a glass cover.[3] Thus
greenhouses work primarily by preventing convective cooling.[4][35]
In the greenhouse effect, rather than retaining (sensible) heat by physically preventing movement of t
he air, greenhouse gases act to warm theEarth by re-radiating some of the energy back towards the s
urface. This process may exist in real greenhouses, but is comparativelyunimportant there.

Bodies other than Earth

In the Solar System, Mars, Venus, and the moon Titan also exhibit greenhouse effects; that on Venus
is particularly large, due to itsatmosphere, which consists mainly of dense carbon dioxide [36] Titan has
an anti-greenhouse
effect, in that its atmosphere absorbs solarradiation but is relatively transparent to infrared radiation.
Pluto also exhibits behavior superficially similar to the anti-greenhouse effect.[37][38]
A runaway greenhouse effect occurs if positive
feedbacks lead to the evaporation of all greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.[39] A runawaygreenh
ouse effect involving carbon dioxide and water vapor is thought to have occurred on Venus.[40]

See also

Global warming portal

Environment portal

References
1.

^ "Annex II
Glossary". Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange. Retrieved 15 October 2010.

2.

^ a b A concise description of the greenhouse effect is given inthe Intergovernmental

Panel on Climate Change FourthAssessment Report, "What is the Greenhouse Effect?" FAQ
1.3 - AR4 WGI Chapter 1: Historical Overview of Climate Change
Science, IIPCC Fourth Assessment Report, Chapter1, page 115: "To balance the absorbed in
coming [solar] energy,the Earth must, on average, radiate the same amount of energyback to
space. Because the Earth is much colder than theSun, it radiates at much longer wavelengths
, primarily in theinfrared part of the spectrum (see Figure 1). Much of thisthermal radiation emi
tted by the land and ocean is absorbed bythe atmosphere, including clouds, and reradiated b
ack to Earth.This is called the greenhouse effect."
Stephen H. Schneider, in Geosphere-biosphere Interactionsand Climate, Lennart O. Bengtss
on and Claus U. Hammer,eds., Cambridge University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-521-78238-4,pp. 9
0-91.
E. Claussen, V. A. Cochran, and D. P. Davis, Climate Change:Science, Strategies, & Solution
s, University of Michigan, 2001.p. 373.
A. Allaby and M. Allaby, A Dictionary of Earth Sciences,Oxford University Press, 1999, ISBN
0-19-280079-5, p. 244.

3.

^ a b Wood, R.W. (1909). "Note on the Theory of the

Greenhouse". Philosophical Magazine 17: 319320. "Whenexposed to sunlight the temperat
ure rose gradually to 65 C.,the enclosure covered with the salt plate keeping a little aheadof t
he other because it transmitted the longer waves from theSun, which were stopped by the gla
ss. In order to eliminate thisaction the sunlight was first passed through a glass plate." "itis cle
ar that the rock-salt plate is capable of transmittingpractically all of it, while the glass plate sto
ps it entirely. Thisshows us that the loss of temperature of the ground byradiation is very small
in comparison to the loss by convection,in other words that we gain very little from the circum
stancethat the radiation is trapped."

4.

^ a b Schroeder, Daniel V. (2000). An introduction to thermalphysics. San Francisco,

California: Addison-Wesley.pp. 3057. ISBN 0-321-27779-1. "... this mechanism is calledthe
greenhouse effect, even though most greenhouses dependprimarily on a different mechanism
(namely, limiting convectivecooling)."

5.

^ "NASA Earth Fact Sheet". Nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved2010-10-15.

6.

^ "Introduction to Atmospheric Chemistry, by Daniel J. Jacob, Princeton

University Press, 1999. Chapter 7, "The Greenhouse
Effect"". Acmg.seas.harvard.edu. Retrieved2010-10-15.

7.

^ "Solar Radiation and the Earth's Energy

Balance".Eesc.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2010-10-15.

8.

9.

^ a b Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report.

Chapter 1: Historical overview of climate change science page 97
^ The elusive "absolute surface air temperature," see GISS discussion

10.

^ Vaclav Smil (2003). The Earth's Biosphere: Evolution, Dynamics, and

Change. MIT Press. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-262-69298-4.

11.

^ IPCC AR4 WG1 (2007), Solomon, S.; Qin, D.; Manning, M.;Chen, Z.; Marquis, M.;
Averyt, K.B.; Tignor, M.; and Miller,H.L., ed., Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science
Basis, Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment
Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange, Cambridge University Press, ISB
N 978-0-521-88009-1(pb: 978-0-521-70596-7)

12.

^ Isaac M. Held and Brian J. Soden (Nov. 2000). "Water Vapor Feedback and
Global Warming". Annual Review ofEnergy and the Environment (Annual Reviews) 25: 441
475.doi:10.1146/annurev.energy.25.1.441.

13.

^ John Tyndall, Heat considered as a Mode of

Motion (500pages; year 1863, 1873).

14.

^ Bell, Alexander Graham, Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online, 1921

1930 (Volume XV), University of Toronto and Universit
Laval, 2000. Retrieved March 1, 2013.

15.

^ Grosvenor, Edwin S. and Morgan Wesson. AlexanderGraham Bell: The Life and Ti
mes of the Man Who Invented theTelephone. New York: Harry N. Abrahms, Inc., 1997, p. 274
,ISBN 0-8109-4005-1.

16.

^ Grosvenor and Wesson, 1997, p. 269.

17.

^ "The HITRAN Database". Atomic and Molecular PhysicsDivision, HarvardSmithsonian Center for Astrophysics.Retrieved August 8, 2012. "HITRAN is a compilation ofs
pectroscopic parameters that a variety of computer codes useto predict and simulate the tran
smission and emission of lightin the atmosphere."

18.

^ "Hitran on the Web Information System". HarvardSmithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CFA), Cambridge, MA,USA; V.E. Zuev Insitute of Atmos
peric Optics (IAO), Tomsk,Russia. Retrieved August 11, 2012.

19.

^ a b c Mitchell, John F. B. (1989). "THE "GREENHOUSE" EFFECT AND CLIMATE

CHANGE". Reviews of Geophysics(American Geophysical Union) 27 (1): 115
139.Bibcode:1989RvGeo..27..115M.doi:10.1029/RG027i001p00115. Retrieved 2008-03-23.

20.

^ "Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment

(SOURCE)".NASA.Gov. Retrieved 15 October 2010.

21.

^ "Water vapour: feedback or

forcing?". RealClimate. 6 April2005. Retrieved 2006-05-01.

22.

^ a b Kiehl, J. T.; Kevin E. Trenberth (February 1997). "Earth's Annual Global Mean
Energy Budget" (PDF). Bulletin of theAmerican Meteorological Society 78 (2): 197
208.Bibcode:1997BAMS...78..197K. doi:10.1175/15200477(1997)078<0197:EAGMEB>2.0.CO;2. ISSN 1520-0477.Archived from the
original on 2006-03-30. Retrieved 2006-05-01.

23.

^ "Enhanced greenhouse effect

Glossary". Nova.Australian Academy of Scihuman impact on the environment.2006.

24.

^ "Enhanced Greenhouse Effect". Ace.mmu.ac.uk. Retrieved2010-10-15.

25.

^ IPCC Fourth Assessment Report Synthesis Report: Summary for

Policymakers (p. 5)

26.

^ IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, Working Group I Report "The Physical

Science Basis" Chapter 7

27.

^ "Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Mauna Loa". NOAA.

28.

29.

^ Hansen J. (February 2005). "A slippery slope: How much global warming
constitutes "dangerous anthropogenic interference"?". Climatic Change 68 (333): 269
279.doi:10.1007/s10584-005-4135-0.

30.

^ "Deep ice tells long climate story". BBC News. 2006-09-04. Retrieved 2010-0504.

31.

^ Hileman B (2005-11-28). "Ice Core Record

Extended".Chemical & Engineering News 83 (48): 7.

32.

^ Bowen, Mark; Thin Ice: Unlocking the Secrets of Climate inthe World's Highest Mou
ntains; Owl Books, 2005.

33.

^ Temperature change and carbon dioxide

change, U.S.National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

34.

^ Brian Shmaefsky (2004). Favorite demonstrations for college science: an NSTA

Press journals collection. NSTAPress. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-87355-242-4.

35.

^ Oort, Abraham H.; Peixoto, Jos Pinto (1992). Physics ofclimate. New York: Americ
an Institute of Physics. ISBN 0-88318-711-6. "...the name water vapor-greenhouse effect isact
ually a misnomer since heating in the usual greenhouse isdue to the reduction of convection"

36.

^ McKay, C.; Pollack, J.; Courtin, R. (1991). "The greenhouseand antigreenhouse eff
ects on Titan". Science 253: 111821.doi:10.1126/science.11538492. PMID 11538492.

37.

^ "Titan: Greenhouse and Anti-greenhouse :: Astrobiology Magazine - earth

science - evolution distribution Origin of life universe - life beyond :: Astrobiology is
study of earth".Astrobio.net. Retrieved 2010-10-15.

38.

^ "Pluto Colder Than Expected". SPACE.com. 2006-01-03.Retrieved 2010-10-15.

39.

^ Kasting, James F. (1991). "Runaway and moist greenhouse atmospheres and

the evolution of Earth and
Venus.". Planetary Sciences: American and SovietResearch/Proceedings from the U.S.U.S.S.R. Workshop onPlanetary Sciences. Commission on Engineering and TechnicalSystem
s (CETS). pp. 234245. Retrieved 2009.

40.

^ Rasool, I.; De Bergh, C.; De Bergh, C. (Jun 1970). "The Runaway Greenhouse
and the Accumulation of CO2 in the Venus Atmosphere". Nature 226 (5250): 1037
1039.Bibcode:1970Natur.226.1037R. doi:10.1038/2261037a0.ISSN 0028-0836. PMID 16057
644. Retrieved 02/25/2009.

Further reading

Businger, Joost Alois; Fleagle, Robert Guthrie (1980). An introduction to atmospheric physics.
International geophysics series (2nd ed.).San Diego: Academic. ISBN 0-12-260355-9.

Henderson-Sellers,
Ann; McGuffie, Kendal (2005). A climate modelling primer (3rd ed.). New York: Wiley. ISBN 0-47085750-1."Greenhouse effect: the effect of the atmosphere in re-reradiating longwave radiation back to
the surface of the Earth. It has nothing to dowith glasshouses, which trap warm air at the surface."

Idso, S.B. (1982). Carbon dioxide : friend or foe? : an inquiry into the climatic and agricultural
consequences of the rapidly rising CO2content of Earth's atmosphere. Tempe, AZ: IBR Press. OCLC
63236418. "...the phraseology is somewhat in appropriate, since CO2 doesnot warm the planet in a m
anner analogous to the way in which a greenhouse keeps its interior warm"

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Summary
This figure is a simplified, schematic representation of the flows of energy between space,
the atmosphere, and the Earth's surface, and shows how these flows combine to trap heat near
the surface and create the greenhouse effect. Energy exchanges are expressed in watts per
square meter (W/m2) and derived from Kiehl & Trenberth (1997).
The sun is responsible for virtually all energy that reaches the Earth's surface. Direct
overhead sunlight at the top of the atmosphere provides 1366 W/m2; however, geometric
effects and reflective surfaces limit the light which is absorbed at the typical location to an
annual average of ~235 W/m2. If this were the total heat received at the surface, then,
neglecting changes in albedo, the Earth's surface would be expected to have an
average temperature of -18 C (Lashof 1989). Instead, the Earth's atmosphere recycles heat
coming from the surface and delivers an additional 324 W/m2, which results in an average
surface temperature of roughly +14 C [1].
Of the surface heat captured by the atmosphere, more than 75% can be attributed to the
action of greenhouse gases that absorb thermal radiation emitted by the Earth's surface. The
atmosphere in turn transfers the energy it receives both into space (38%) and back to the
Earth's surface (62%), where the amount transferred in each direction depends on the thermal
and density structure of the atmosphere This process by which energy is recycled in the
atmosphere to warm the Earth's surface is known as the greenhouse effect and is an essential
piece of Earth's climate. Under stable conditions, the total amount of energy entering the
system from solar radiation will exactly balance the amount being radiated into space, thus
allowing the Earth to maintain a constant average temperature over time. However, recent
measurements indicate that the Earth is presently absorbing 0.85 0.15 W/m2 more than it
emits into space (Hansen et al. 2005). An overwhelming majority of climate scientists believe
that this asymmetry in the flow of energy has been significantly increased by human
emissions of greenhouse gases [2].

Licensing:

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the
Documentation License, Version 1.2 only as published by the Free Software Foundation
no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section e
Documentation License.
This figure was created by Robert A. Rohde from published data and is part of the Global
Warming Art project.
Original image: http://www.globalwarmingart.com/wiki/Image:Greenhouse_Effect_png
It was converted to SVG by User:Rugby471.

References
Kiehl, J. T. and Trenberth, K. E. (1997). "Earth's Annual Global Mean Energy

Budget". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Association 78": 197-208.

Daniel A. Lashof (1989). "The dynamic greenhouse: Feedback processes that may
influence future concentrations of atmospheric trace gases and climatic change". Climatic
Change 14 (3): 213-242.
James Hansen, Larissa Nazarenko, Reto Ruedy, Makiko Sato, Josh Willis, Anthony
Del Genio, Dorothy Koch, Andrew Lacis, Ken Lo, Surabi Menon, Tica Novakov, Judith
Perlwitz, Gary Russell, Gavin A. Schmidt, Nicholas Tausnev (2005). "Earth's Energy
Imbalance: Confirmation and Implications". Science308 (5727): 1431-1435.

derivative works
Derivative works of this file:
Forceja efiko.svg
Greenhouse Effect mk.svg
Greenhouse Effect-el.svg

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Summary

Descripti English: This diagram shows how the greenhouse effect works. Incoming solar radi
on
341 watts per square meter (Trenberth et al., 2009). Some of the solar radiation is r
by clouds,puddi, and the Earth's surface (102 watts per square meter). Some of the
through the atmosphere. About half of the solar radiation is absorbed by the Earth's
square meter). Solar radiation is converted to heat energy, causing the emission of
radiation back to the atmosphere (396 watts per square meter). Some of the infrare
re-emitted by heat-trapping "greenhouse" gases in the atmosphere. Outgoing infrar
equals 239 watts per square meter.

Image related information:

Transwiki approved by: w:en:User:Dmcdevit
This image was copied from wikipedia:en. The original description was:

Description
This figure shows the solar radiation spectrum for direct light at both the top of the Earth's

atmosphere and at sea level. The sun produces light with a distribution similar to what would be
expected from a 5525 K (5250 C) blackbody, which is approximately the sun's surface temperature.
As light passes through the atmosphere, some is absorbed by gases with specific absorption bands.
Additional light is redistributed by Rayleigh scattering, which is responsible for the atmosphere's blue
color.
These curves are based on the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Terrestrial
Reference Spectra, which are standards adopted by thephotovoltaics industry to ensure consistent
test conditions and are similar to the light that could be expected in North America. Regions
for ultraviolet, visibleand infrared light are indicated.

Copyright
This figure was prepared by Robert A. Rohde as part of the Global Warming Art project.

Image from Global Warming Art

This image is an original work created for Global Warming Art. Please refer to the image description
page for more information.

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Image related information:

Summary

Description English: Calculation of (absorption coefficient profile cm-1/(mol*cm-2) ) varying with wavenu
mixture containing:
N2: 78.08 % green
O2: 20.95 %

H2O: 0.40 % (4000 ppm) green --> refer to commons Water_infrared_absorption_coeffi

CO2: 394 ppm red
CH4: 1.8 ppm yellow
N2O: 0.32 ppm
CO: 0.1 ppm
O3: 0.03 ppm
NO2: 0.02 ppm yellow
The graphs showing log () versus wavenumber .

generated using Hitran on the Web Information

System http://hitran.iao.ru/ and http://www.spectralcalc.com/spectral_browser/db_intensity.php

(Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CFA), Cambridge, MA, USA; V.E. Zuev Insitu
Tomsk, Russia).
Date

14 August 2012

Source

http://hitran.iao.ru/

Author

Hitran on the Web Information System (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CFA), C
Insitute of Atmosperic Optics (IAO), Tomsk, Russia) and Darekk2

Licensing
This image is modification of a synthetic Stick spectrum of a custom (my) gas mixture I created using
Hitran on the Web Information Systemhttp://hitran.iao.ru/ (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for
Astrophysics (CFA), Cambridge, MA, USA V.E. Zuev Insitute of Atmosperic Optics (IAO), Tomsk,
Russia). They state on their webpage:
Usage agreement
Users of the Hitran on the Web Information System agree to reference it in scientific publications,
presentations and communications if the system is useful for their investigations.

moyenne de gaz au cours des diffrents mois. Ce cycle se rpte quelle que soit l'anne obser

La courbe grise montre la teneur moyenne mensuelle de dioxyde de carbone, et la courbe rou
annuelle.
Date

23 April 2008

Source

Own work, from Image:Mauna Loa Carbon Dioxide.png, uploaded in Commons by Nils Sim
NC-SA ; itself created by Robert A. Rohde from NOAA published data and is incorporated in
project.

Author

Smhur

Other
versions

Derivative works of this file:

Mauna Loa Carbon Dioxide-de.svg
Mauna Loa Carbon Dioxide-hu.svg
Mauna Loa Carbon Dioxide-nl.svg

File:Mauna Loa Carbon Dioxide-bs.svg : bosanski

File:Mauna Loa Carbon Dioxide-de.svg : Deutsch
File:Mauna Loa Carbon Dioxide-en.svg : English
File:Mauna Loa Carbon Dioxide-es.svg : espaol
File:Mauna Loa Carbon Dioxide-fr.svg : franais
File:Mauna Loa Carbon Dioxide-id.svg : Bahasa Indonesia
File:Mauna Loa Carbon Dioxide-no.svg : norsk bokml
File:Mauna Loa Dwutlenek wgla-pl.svg : polski
File:Mauna Loa Carbon Dioxide-pt.svg : portugus
File:Mauna Loa Carbon Dioxide-ru.svg :
Camera
location

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19 28 19.92 N, 155 35 32.28 W

Summary
Description

English: The Glasshouse, RHS Wisley Garden, Surrey, UK

Date

8 August 2007

Source

Own work

Author

Mark Boyce

Permission
(Reusing this file)

Own work, Copyleft