Radiation Budget of the Earth
These charts show what happens to visible light from the Sun on the Earth.
For any short period in time, the energy that the Earth receives from the Sun and what it radiates back to space are in balance at the top of the atmosphere and at the Earth's surface.
So you will observe this balance in the following charts.
The various types of energy are color coded and defined in the following key.
NOTE: Numbers are in Watts per square meter (w/m^2).
Table 1. Describes what happens to visible sunlight after it enters the Earth's atmosphere.
Table 2. Shows all the components of energy entering and leaving the Earth's surface, including visible light, infrared radiation, heat that is conducted and heat from water vapor that is convected.
Table 3. Shows all the components of radiation leaving the earth's atmosphere.
