Partial absorption and the greenhouse effect

Today
How does the Boltzman negative feedback work lead to a radiative equilibrium temperature? What is the equilibrium temperature? How does the energy move around with the earth system?

E T

Everything emits
We have defined solar radiation as shortwave and radiation coming from temperatures like that of Earth as longwave. Blackbodies are perfect absorbers Blackbodies are perfect emitters

Everything absorbs!

Energy balance
Atmosphere
Solid earth

Shortwave radiation

Hydrosphere (ocean, etc)

Longwave radiation Emission from earth (Stefan Boltzman)

Emission from sun

Inverse square law Albedo

Biota

Energy balance means incoming equals outgoing

S 4 1 T 4

Typical albedo ()
Surface Snow (fresh) Snow (old) 0.8-0.95 0.4-0.6 Surface Average cloud Cumulonimbus 0.23 0.9

Ice Water (ocean) Sand Lava Soil

Grass/crops Roads Concrete Buildings

0.6 0.05-0.20 0.3 0.1 0.06-0.25

0.2 0.15 0.3 0.09

Stratocumulous Cirrus Rainforest Conifer forest Burned forest Tundra Rice paddy
Global mean

0.6 0.4 0.07-0.15 0.05-0.15 0.3 0.15-0.20 0.12

0.31

Albedo ()
Total albedo
(surface and clouds, etc) Average = 0.31

Albedo of the surface and vegetation

Solar radiation
INcoming SOLar radiATION: Insolation (at the top of the atmosphere, just depends on latitude!)

Solar radiation at the earths surface

(i.e., minus the part reflected by the surface , clouds, etc.)

From last class: Radiative balance

Solar input of energy (note, only on sunny side)

S I 1 4
Longwave loss of energy (note all directions)

A=pR2 A=4pR2

4 E=T
So for balance, incoming = outgoing

S 4 1 T 4

Boltzman feedback
Atmosphere colder than equilibrium emits LESS energy than is incoming, and warms up. Atmosphere warmer than equilibrium emits MORE energy than incoming, so cools down Since the Stefan-Boltzman law is E=T4, even a small deviation from equilibrium will give a strong recovery. BUT this is only the temperature at the top of the atmosphere! What controls the temperature at the ground (hint, something to do with tomatoes)

From last class: equilibrium temperature

solar in = longwave out
S 1 T 4 4
T
4

We know S = 1370 W/m2 We know = 0.31 Solve for T

1 S

T = 254K ~ -30 F!
This is the radiative equilibrium temperature
Wait a minute! The surface is more typically around 300K (70F) So why the difference?

Energy balance and greenhouse

E=T4
S I 1 4

E=T4

I 1

S 4

absorbed

emitted

emitted

E=Ts4

E=T4

No atmosphere

Greenhouse atmosphere

Notice at the surface there is now both shortwave radiation from the sun and downwelling longwave radiation. More energy, leads to warmer temperature

Green house effect

Strength of greenhouse effect can be measured as the difference between the radiative equilibrium temperature and the surface temperature

E=T4
I 1 S 4

E=Ts4

E=T4

Greenhouse atmosphere Earth surface temperature is about Earth radiative equilibrium temperature is Greenhouse effect is (288 254) = 288 K 254 K 34 K

Demo time!

Green house effect

Recall balloon in front of Scotts face We could still see IR emitted from the face, but some of it was absorbed by the gas in the balloon Where did the rest of the energy go? The balloon then emitted the radiation in all directions
Does the atmosphere work the same way?
Scott Balloon IR camera

Selective absorption
Atmosphere absorbs radiation, as we know. But how much radiation is absorbed depends on wavelength.

Atmosphere is mostly transparent for shortwave radiation Solar input goes through the atmosphere to the ground

Atmosphere is mostly opaque for longwave radiation Terrestrial radiation is almost completely absorbed by gases, then reemitted!

Each flux (arrow) changes energy of the atmosphere/climate system

Primary gases in the atmosphere

Components in Dry Air Nitrogen Oxygen Argon Carbon Dioxide Hydrogen Volume Ratio compared to Dry Air 78.09% 20.95% 0.933% 0.0386% 0.00005% Molecular Mass M (kg/kmol) 28.02 32.00 39.94 44.01 2.02 Molecular Mass in Air 21.88 6.704 0.373 0.013 0

Neon
Helium Krypton Xenon

0.0018%
0.0005% 0.0011% 0.00009%

20.18
4.00 83.8 131.29

0
0 0 0

Total Molecular Mass of Air

Carbon-12, defined 12kg/kmol

28.97

Noticed that many of these molecules contain 1 or 2 atoms, except for one of them. Molecular Mass of water H2O ~18.

Greenhouse gases
What is a greenhouse gas? H2O CO2 CH4 O3 N2O CFC-11, CFC-12 evaporation and precipitation ecosystem fluxes, ocean biology, human activities (also biomass burning) human activity (garbage, cattle), wetlands pollution, solar absorption, chemical loss microbes, also biomass burning, lightning, fertilizers refrigerants, production stopped in 1990s (Montreal protocol)

ANY GAS is a greenhouse gas!

Recall the radiation spectrum?

How does absorption work?

Consider water vapor: H2O Energy of radiation (i.e., a photon) related to wave length (Recall E = h)

Energy absorbed, and cause rotation (i.e., absorption of energy from Snickers causes spinning of bike wheel in gym)

What about CO2?

Absorption of a photon causes bending. And similarly vibration.. This is an important one, because the Earth emits a lot of radiation at this frequency (or wavelength).

http://science.widener.edu/svb/ftir/ir_co2.html

Importantly, different molecules need photon of specific wavelengths. So not all of the radiation spectrum is absorbed.

Spectrum of absorption

Infrared, i.e., longwave radiation Only selected wavelengths are absorbed (selective absorption) The wavelengths that are absorbed will be emitted both up and down, and lead to the greenhouse effect.

Atmospheric window
Some of the radiation is absorbed and reemitted The rest goes straight out!

This is related to the atmospheric composition (i.e., which gases)

Key points
Everything absorbs, and emits! Greenhouse effect causes surface temperature to be warmer than radiative equilibrium temperature (We might expect planets or moons with no atmosphere have no greenhouse effect!) The atmosphere allows shortwave radiation to pass through, but (selectively) traps longwave radiation because of molecules Some longwave radiation can pass through the atmosphere (wavelengths in the window region of the spectrum) Atmosphere mostly nitrogen (78%) then oxygen (21%). Water vapor is the most influential greenhouse gas CO2 is the most important influential human controlled greenhouse gas. CO2 and water mostly strongly control the size of the window. Strength greenhouse effect changes by changing the size of the window region