ENERGY FLOW DIAGRAM TO THE EARTH
The Earth receives solar energy in the form of radiation. Solar radiation is the total frequency spectrum of electromagnetic radiation from the sun.
This spectrum covers visible radiation such as visible light and X-rays, ultraviolet radiation, infrared radiation and radio waves.
Solar radiation passes through the atmosphere and is observed by the Earth. Part of this observed power is reflected. Fortunately, this radiated heat (in the form of IR radiation) does not escape the Earth's atmosphere. Part of this radiated energy is "trapped" by numerous greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Absorption is "the incident radiant energy which is retained by a substance". In the flow of energy to the earth, the substance is the atmosphere.
When the atmosphere absorbs energy, the result is converted into another form of radiation. It can be transformed according to the nature of the absorbent medium.
Even the means of observation can do much more. The medium absorbs only a fraction of the total energy. The other force is reflected, refracted or diffused. The absorbed energy can also be relayed to other parts of the atmosphere.
There are many types of gases and particles in the atmosphere. They absorb different wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation and trap them. The "weather windows" are the wavelengths which cross the atmosphere which are not realized.
 |
| WINDOWS THROUGH THE EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE |
The weather windows show the Earth's atmosphere above the toy. Note in the figure that the valleys (as at the left end of the scale for visible light) are "windows". Here, the attenuation of the radiation through the medium through which it passes is very low.
Absorption is mainly caused by three different atmospheric gases. Contrary to popular belief, water vapor is the most absorbent, followed by carbon dioxide and ozone. In the following image, we can see how much the atmosphere is absorbed by all of the incoming radiation.
 |
| ENERGY FLOW DIAGRAM TO EARTH |
Absorption of electromagnetic radiation from the atmosphere helps Earth in two ways:
(1) Absorption helps humanity by preventing high-energy radiation from reaching the surface, which limits our exposure to harmful radiation. X-rays cause the atmosphere to absorb radiation from the ultraviolet region.
(2) The second way is that absorption helps the earth as a source of heat. If we take a vertical section of the entire atmosphere, we notice that the atmosphere generally increases with height. High energy wavelengths at high atmospheric temperatures cause high concentrations of absorbing gases, and the observation of electromagnetic radiation with height increases the temperature.
0 Comments: