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File:Outgoing radiation with and without Greenhouse effect.svg

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Summary

Description
English: Comparison of Earth's upward flow of infrared thermal radiation in reality and in a hypothetical scenario in which greenhouse gases and clouds are removed or lose their ability to absorb thermal radiation—without changing Earth's albedo (i.e., reflection/absorption of sunlight). Top shows the balance between Earth's heating and cooling as measured at the top of the atmosphere (TOA). Panel (a) shows the real situation with an active greenhouse effect. Panel (b) shows the situation immediately after absorption stops; all thermal radiation emitted by the surface would reach space; there would be more cooling (via thermal radiation emitted to space) than warming (from sunlight). This imbalance would lead to a rapid temperature drop. Panel (c) shows the final stable steady state, after the surface cools sufficiently to emit only enough thermal radiation to match the energy flow from absorbed sunlight. The amount of thermal radiation emitted by the surface depends on its temperature.

Reference:

All three panels correspond to the data output of the University of Chicago's RRTM Earth's Energy Budget online radiative transfer model.

Notes:

The emphasis in the design of the figure is on supporting simple conceptual understanding. To this end, in panel (a), clouds have been omitted and greenhouse gas concentrations and lapse rate have been boosted to compensate. For panels (b) and (c), greenhouse gas concentrations were set to zero. For panel (c), surface temperature was adjusted to achieve a balance between incoming and outgoing energy.
Date
Source Own work
Author Rhwentworth

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Captions

Outgoing thermal radiation (a) with the greenhouse effect, and (b,c) with absorbers of thermal radiation gone; (b) shows immediate energy imbalance and (c) shows steady state with lower surface temperature

8 June 2023

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File history

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Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current00:28, 12 June 2023Thumbnail for version as of 00:28, 12 June 2023855 × 432 (117 KB)RhwentworthAdjusted presentation of TOA energy balance
20:35, 10 June 2023Thumbnail for version as of 20:35, 10 June 2023855 × 432 (116 KB)RhwentworthAdded temperature without sunlight to bottom scale
07:11, 10 June 2023Thumbnail for version as of 07:11, 10 June 2023855 × 432 (112 KB)RhwentworthImproved visual contrast for "imbalance"
07:32, 9 June 2023Thumbnail for version as of 07:32, 9 June 2023855 × 432 (110 KB)RhwentworthChanged presentation of TOA energy imbalance
01:59, 9 June 2023Thumbnail for version as of 01:59, 9 June 2023855 × 432 (104 KB)RhwentworthUploaded own work with UploadWizard

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