Table of Contents
What happens to the radiation that does reach the surface of Earth?
The Earth absorbs most of the energy reaching its surface, a small fraction is reflected. In total approximately 70\% of incoming radiation is absorbed by the atmosphere and the Earth’s surface while around 30\% is reflected back to space and does not heat the surface.
How does radiation affect the temperature of the Earth?
The sun’s radiation strikes the ground, thus warming the rocks. As the rock’s temperature rises due to conduction, heat energy is released into the atmosphere, forming a bubble of air which is warmer than the surrounding air. This bubble of air rises into the atmosphere.
What would happen to life on Earth if the sun’s rays could no longer reach the Earth’s surface?
Without the Sun’s rays, all photosynthesis on Earth would stop. All plants would die and, eventually, all animals that rely on plants for food — including humans — would die, too.
What percent of radiation is lost after reaching Earth’s surface?
The energy that was absorbed can be reradiated. Of the reradiated energy, 70 percent is lost to outer space. The surface is responsible for 21 percent of this, and the remaining 49 percent is lost by the atmosphere.
How much sunlight reaches the Earth’s surface?
How much light actually reaches the Earth’s surface? Only 56\% of the solar radiation that reaches the atmosphere makes it through to earths surface. The sun’s radiation must make it through multiple barriers before it reaches Earth’s surface. The first barrier is the atmosphere.
When Earth cools most of the energy transferred from Earth’s surface to space is transferred by the process of?
Conduction
Energy is transferred between the Earth’s surface and the atmosphere in a variety of ways, including radiation, conduction, and convection. Conduction is one of the three main ways that heat energy moves from place to place.
How is energy received at the top of the atmosphere and then cycled through the Earth’s climate system?
At the top of the atmosphere – Incoming energy from the sun balanced with outgoing energy from the earth. Shortwave radiation from the sun. Shortwave radiation reflected back to space by clouds. Longwave radiation emitted to space by gases in atmosphere.
What is the temperature when solar radiation falls on Earth’s surface?
Absorption of solar radiation by ozone shields the terrestrial surface from harmful ultraviolet light and warms the stratosphere, producing maximum temperatures of −15 to 10 °C (5 to 50 °F) at an altitude of 50 km (30 miles).
How conduction in the surface affect the temperature in our atmosphere?
Conduction, radiation and convection all play a role in moving heat between Earth’s surface and the atmosphere. Conduction directly affects air temperature only a few centimeters into the atmosphere. During the day, sunlight heats the ground, which in turn heats the air directly above it via conduction.
How long would humans survive if the sun went out?
A relatively simple calculation would show that the Earth’s surface temperature would drop by a factor of two about every two months if the Sun were shut off. The current mean temperature of the Earth’s surface is about 300 Kelvin (K). This means in two months the temperature would drop to 150K, and 75K in four months.