ENERGY BALANCE MODEL

Incoming Solar Radiation

The sun emits radiation with an effective photosphere temperature of about T p = 5,785 K.
Thus, the energy flux (joules per second per square meter or watts per square meter) emitted
by the sun’s photosphere can be calculated from the Stefan-Boltzmann law as

Where is the emissivity of the photosphere. The emis- sivity is near unity because the sun is
essentially a blackbody (a perfect absorber and emitter of radiation). Multiplying the energy
flux by the spherical surface area of the photosphere, 4 ,where = 6.96 × m(696,000 km) is the
effective radius of the sun (the distance from the center of the sun to the top of the
photosphere), gives the total energy per unit time (J or W) emitted by the photosphere as4
.Energy emitted from the photosphere propagates through space

on the edge of an ever-expanding concentric sphere originating from the photosphere.

Because conservation of energy requires that the total energy per unit time passing through a
concentric sphere any distance from the photosphere equals that originally emitted by the
spherical photosphere, the total energy per unit time passing through a sphere with a radius
corresponding to the Earth-sun distance (must be

Where Fs is the solar energy flux (J or W ) on a sphere with a radius corresponding to the
Earth-sun distance. Rearranging Equation 12.2 and combining the result with Equation 12.1
gives

which indicates that the energy flux from the sun decreases proportionally to the square of the
distance away from the sun. This can be illustrated by putting your hand over a light bulb.
Close to the bulb, you will feel the heat from the bulb; however, as you move your hand away
from the bulb, the heat that you feel decreases proportionally to the square of the distance

away from the bulb.

The average Earth-sun distance is about 1.49598 ×m (150 million km), giving the average
energy flux at the top of the Earth’s atmosphere from Equation 12.3 as Fs = 1,365 W ,which
is the solar constant. Figure 12.1 shows that the Earth-sun distance is 147.1 million km in
December (Northern Hemisphere winter) and 152.1 million km in June (Northern
Hemisphere summer) due to the fact that the Earth rotates around the sun in an elliptical orbit
with the sun at one focus. If these distances are used in Equation 12.3, = 1,411 W in
December and 1,321 Win June. Thus, a difference of 3.4 percent in Earth-sun distance
between December and June corresponds to a difference of 6.9 percent in solar radiation
reaching the Earth between these months. In other words, 6.9 percent more radiation falls on
the Earth in December than in June.

Despite the excess radiation reaching the top of the Earth’s atmosphere in December, the
Northern Hemi- sphere (NH) winter still starts in December because the Southern
Hemisphere (SH) is tilted toward the sun in December, as shown in Figure 12.1. It also shows
that the axis of rotation of the Earth is currently tilted all year by ∼23.5 degrees from a line
perpendicular to the plane of the Earth’s orbit around the sun. This angle is called the
obliquity of the Earth’s axis of rotation. As a result of the Earth’s obliquity, the sun’s direct
rays hit their farthest point south, 23.S latitude, on December 22 (NH winter solstice, SH
summer solstice) and their farthest point north, 23. N latitude, on June 22 (NH summer
solstice, SH winter solstice )(Figures 12.1 and 12.2). The latitude at 23. S is called the Tropic
of Capricorn and that at 23. N is the Tropic of Cancer. Winter and summer solstices are the
shortest and longest days of the year, respectively. On March 20 (vernal equinox) and
September 23 (autumnal equinox ), the sun is directly overt he Equator and the length of day
equals that of night. For thr ee reasons, temperatures in the NH are warmer in June than in
December, even though the Earth is closer to the sun in December (Figure 12.1). First, the
sun’s rays are directly over the NH in June. In December, they are directly over the SH; thus,
they are slanted, making them diffuse and less intense over the NH (Figure 12.2). Second,
NH days are longer in June than in December. Finally, the NH summer is about a week
longer than is the NH winter because the Earth takes longer to pass between equinoxes from
March to September than from September to March (Figure 12.1).

From the sun’s point of view, the Earth appears as a circular disk (rather than a sphere)
absorbing the sun’s radiation. Thus, the quantity of incoming solar radiation received by the
Earth is the solar constant multiplied by the cross-sectional area of the Earth, (), where =
6.378× m (6,378 km) is the Earth’s radius. Not all incoming solar radiation is absorbed by the
Earth. Some is reflected by snow, sea ice, deserts, and other light-colored ground surfaces, as
well as clouds. The fraction of incident energy reflected by a surface is the albedo or
reflectivity of the surface. The albedo varies for different-colored surfaces and changes with
wave length. Table 12.1 gives mean albedos in the visible spectrum for several surface types,
showing that the albedo of the Earth and atmosphere together (planetary albedo ) is about 30
percent. More than two-thirds of the Earth’s surface is covered with water, which has an
albedo of 5 to 20 percent (with a typical value of 8 percent), depending largely on the angle
of the sun relative to the surface. Soils and forests also have low albedos. Much of the Earth-
atmosphere reflectivity is due to clouds and snow, which have high albedos. Taking into
account the cross-sectional area of the Earth and the Earth’s albedo ( , fracti on), the total
energy per unit time, or power (W), absorbed by the

Earth in the simple energy balance model is

This incoming radiation must be equated with radiation emitted by the Earth to derive an
equilibrium temperature.

12.1.2. Outgoing Thermal-Infrared Radiation

The Earth emits radiation at all points on its surface, which can roughly be represented as a
sphere. The Stefan-Boltzmann law gives the energy flux emitted by any object, including the
Earth. Applying this law and multiplying through by the surface area of the Earth,

4 (), gives the power (W) emitted by the Earth as

where is the globally averaged thermal-IR emissivity of the Earth (dimensionless) and is the
equilibrium temperature (K) of the Earth’s surface, which is the temperature of the Earth
without considering the greenhouse effect. Table 12.1 gives thermal-IR emissiv- ities for
different surfaces. The actual globally averaged emissivity of the Earth is about 0.9 to 0.98;
however, for the basic calculation presented here, it is assumed to equal 1.0.

12.1.3. Equilibrium Temperature of the Earth

Equating the net incoming solar power from Equation 12.4 with the outgoing thermal-IR
power from Equation 12.5 and solving for the equilibrium temperature of the Earth’s surface
in the absence of an atmosphere gives

The equilibrium temperature of the Earth, 255 K (Example 12.1), is 18 K below the freezing
temperature of water and would not support most life on Earth. Fortunately, the actual
globally averaged surface air temperature is about 288 K. The 33 K difference between

the predicted equilibrium temperature and the actual temperature of the Earth results from the
fact that the Earth has an atmosphere that is transparent to most incoming solar radiation but
selectively absorbs many wavelengths of outgoing thermal-IR radiation. Some of the thermal-
IR radiation absorbed by the atmosphere is reemitted to the surface, warming it. The resulting
33 K increase in temperature over the equilibrium temperature of the Earth is the natural
greenhouse effect.

Table 12.2 compares equilibrium temperatures calculated from Equation 12.6 with actual
temperatures of several planets. The planet with the largest difference between its actual and
equilibrium temperatures is Venus (Figure 12.3a). Venus’s surface temperature is more than
470 K warmer than is its equilibrium temperature. Because Venus is closer to the sun than is
the Earth (Figure 12.3b), Venus receives more solar radiation than does the Earth, so Venus’s
temperature, early in its evo- lution, was higher than was that of the Earth. As a result, liquid
water and ice on the surface of Venus, if ever present, evaporated and sublimated,
respectively. The resulting water vapor, exposed to intense far-solar UV radiation, photolyzed
to atomic hydrogen [H(g)] and the hydroxyl radical [OH(g)]. Over time, atomic hydrogen
escaped Venus’s gravitational field to space, depleting the atmosphere of its ability to reform
water vapor. Because the surface of Venus lost all liquid water to vapor, there was no
mechanism to dissolve and convert its atmospheric CO 2 (g), which built up due to volcanic
outgassing, back to carbonate rock. As its mixing ratio increased, CO2 (g) absorbed more
thermal-IR radiation, heating the atmosphere and preventing both condensation of water and
additional removal of CO 2 (g). The nearly endless positive feedback cycle that occurred on
Venus is called a runaway greenhouse effect Today, Venus has a surface air pressure ninety
times that of the Earth, and its major atmospheric constituent is CO2 (g).

Table 12.2 shows that Mercury, Mars, Pluto, and the moon all have thin atmospheres and
little greenhouse effect. Their atmospheres are thin because light gases have escaped their
weak gravitational fields. Although Mars’s surface pressure is less than 1 percent of the
Earth’s, Mars’s CO2 (g) partial pressure is about twenty times that of the Earth. Because CO2
(g) is relatively heavy, it has not entirely escaped Mars’s atmosphere, and because Mars has
no oceans, CO2 (g) cannot be removed by dissolution. Some CO2 (g) deposits seasonally
over Mars’s poles as dry ice (solid carbon dioxide). Dry ice forms from the gas phase when
the temperature decreases to 194.65 K. Despite its abundance of CO2 (g), Mars has only a
small green- house effect because its surface emits little thermal-IR due to its low surface
temperature and its atmosphere contains no water vapor. The main gases on Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus, and Neptune are molecular hydrogen and helium. These planets are so large that their
gravitation prevents the escape of even light gases. Because neither hydrogen nor helium is a
strong absorber of thermal-IR radiation, the greenhouse effect on these planets is small. The
high surface pressure on these planets compresses hydrogen into oceans of liquid hydrogen.
Also, high pressures in the interior of Jupiter result in the formation of solid hydrogen and,
possibly, metallic solid hydrogen.