Table of Contents
Why do greenhouse gases absorb longer wavelength radiation?
When short wavelength radiation from the sun is not intercepted by the outer atmosphere or the ozone layer, it penetrates to the surface of the planet, is absorbed by the Earth’s surface, and it is reradiated back as energy of a longer wavelength (infrared radiation) because the Earth is much cooler than the sun.
Do greenhouse gases absorb shortwave or longwave radiation?
Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (such as water vapor and carbon dioxide) absorb most of the Earth’s emitted longwave infrared radiation, which heats the lower atmosphere.
Why atmosphere is transparent or short wave radiation?
Shortwave radiation (visible light) contains a lot of energy; longwave radiation (infrared light) contains less energy than shortwave radiation (shortwave radiation has a shorter wavelength than longwave radation). Our atmosphere is transparent to radio waves, visible light, and some infrared and UV radiation.
Which gas is opaque to longwave radiation?
Greenhouse gases do absorb longwave radiation so the concentration of these gases is very important in determining how much energy the atmosphere absorbs. Increasing greenhouse gases causes an increase in atmospheric temperature.
What is the greenhouse effect in terms of the interaction of short and long wavelength radiation with matter?
The greenhouse effect refers to circumstances where the short wavelengths of visible light from the sun pass through a transparent medium and are absorbed, but the longer wavelengths of the infrared re-radiation from the heated objects are unable to pass through that medium.
What is green house effect short answer?
The Short Answer: The greenhouse effect is a process that occurs when gases in Earth’s atmosphere trap the Sun’s heat. This process makes Earth much warmer than it would be without an atmosphere.
What is the difference between short waves and long waves?
What is the difference between long-wave and short-wave infrared radiation? Short-wave infrared energy comes directly from the sun, but is not felt as heat. It converts into heat when it strikes an object. Long-wave infrared energy is the heat radiated from an object, which has received short-wave infrared radiation.
What is incoming shortwave radiation?
Shortwave radiation is a radiant energy produced by the sun with wavelengths ranging from infrared through visible to ultraviolet. A portion of the incoming radiation is absorbed by the atmosphere and some is absorbed by clouds. …
Which waves are considered short wave radiation and what does this mean?
Shortwave radiation is a radiant energy produced by the sun with wavelengths ranging from infrared through visible to ultraviolet. Shortwave radiation is therefore exclusively associated with daylight hours for a particular location on the Earth’s surface.
What is longwave radiation in geography?
In the Earth’s climate system, long-wave radiation involves processes of absorption, scattering, and emissions from atmospheric gases, aerosols, clouds and the surface. Radiative cooling by outgoing long-wave radiation is the primary way the Earth System loses energy.
What is greenhouse effect in short?
The greenhouse effect is a natural process that warms the Earth’s surface. When the Sun’s energy reaches the Earth’s atmosphere, some of it is reflected back to space and some is absorbed and re-radiated by greenhouse gases. The absorbed energy warms the atmosphere and the surface of the Earth.
What are in greenhouse gases?
The main gases responsible for the greenhouse effect include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and water vapor (which all occur naturally), and fluorinated gases (which are synthetic). Greenhouse gases have different chemical properties and are removed from the atmosphere, over time, by different processes.