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Radiative Energy Transfer

Dr. Amit Sharma

Dept. of Civil and Infrastructure Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur
Email: amit.sharma@iitj.ac.in
Basic definitions
• Photon – Elementary particle that has no mass, no electric
charge, and an indefinite lifetime
• Electromagnetic wave - A disturbance traveling through a
medium (such as air) or space, that transfers energy from one
object to another without permanently displacing the
medium itself (consists of electric and magnetic field at right
angles to each other and to the direction of propagation)

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Radiation
• Radiation - Emission or propagation of energy in the form of
a photon or electromagnetic wave
• Radiation is emitted by all bodies in the Universe that have a
temperature above absolute zero (0 K).
• Radiation travels as a wave at the speed of light,
λ=cν
• Energy of a photon is given by,
E = h ν = h c/ λ

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ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM
• Blackbody - A substance that absorbs all radiation that is
incident upon it i.e. no incident radiation is reflected by a
blackbody.
• No bodies are perfect blackbodies.

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ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM
Irradiant emission versus wave-
• Solar spectrum includes
Length for the Sun and the Earth
ultra-violet (<380 nm), visible
6000 K (380-700nm), and infrared
(>700 nm) wavelength regions
• 700nm – 3000 nm is called
288 K
near- or solar-infrared and
>3000 nm (3 μm) is called far-
Source – Taken and modified from Fundamental of atmospheric

or thermal infrared
modeling by Mark J. Jacobson, 2005

• Most infrared radiation from the Sun that reaches the

Earth is near-infrared radiation
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ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM
Irradiant emission versus wave-
Length for the Sun and the Earth • Almost all radiation emission
from the Earth is
6000 K thermal-infrared radiation.
• For earth atmospheric studies,
incoming wavelengths of
288 K
interest are shortwave
(ultraviolet, visible and
Source – Taken and modified from Fundamental of atmospheric
modeling by Mark J. Jacobson, 2005
solar-infrared), and outgoing
wavelengths of interest are
longwave (thermal infrared)
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ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM
Irradiant emission versus wave- • Solar UV spectrum further
Length for the Sun and the Earth
divided into UV-C (100-280
6000 K
nm), UV-B (280-315 nm), UV-A
(315-380 or 400nm).
• All UV-C and most of the UV-B
288 K radiation absorbed by the
earth’s atmosphere (e.g. -
Source – Taken and modified from Fundamental of atmospheric
modeling by Mark J. Jacobson, 2005
ozone layer) above
troposphere
• Nitrogen gas (N2) absorbs wave-length
less than 100 nm in the thermosphere
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ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM
• The peak radiation wavelength emitted at a given
temperature can be found from Wien’s displacement law
(Wien’s law)
• Law is derived by differentiating Planck’s equation with
respect to wavelength at a constant temperature and setting
the derivative equal to zero.

λp: peak wavelength of emission from a blackbody.

• Wien’s law states that the hotter a body, the shorter the9
peak wavelength of radiation emitted.
ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM

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Source of energy: The Sun
Sun Axis

1370 W/m2

Earth

Average solar radiation reaching Earth’s atmosphere (1370 W/m2) can be

derived from Stefan–Boltzmann law
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LIGHT PROCESSES
• Apart from absorption, other processes that affects
electro-magnetic radiation in the Earth’s atmosphere are:
- Reflection
- Refraction
- Dispersion
- Diffraction
- Particle scattering
- Gas scattering

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LIGHT PROCESSES: Reflection
Examples of reflection and refraction • The reflectivity of a surface is
called its albedo, which is the
fraction of sunlight (incident on
a surface) that is reflected
• Albedos depend on the wave-
length of radiation and type of
Source – Taken from Fundamental of atmospheric modeling by Mark J.
surface
• Albedo of the Earth and
Jacobson, 2005

atmo-sphere combined
(planetary albedo) is about 30 %
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(0.3).
LIGHT PROCESSES: Refraction
Examples of reflection and refraction • Refraction occurs when a wave
or photon travels through a
medium of one density then
bends as it enters a medium of
another density.
• The angle of refraction related
Source – Taken from Fundamental of atmospheric modeling by Mark J.
to the angle of incidence by
Jacobson, 2005
Snell’s law,

• n is the refractive index and is wavelength dependent 15