Chapter 2 | The Global Energy Balance 2.1 Warmth and Energy 1e energy contained in the ure is maintained, one ly stated in the First Law of movement of and cnergy returned 10 space by Earth's radiative e} generation of energy in the interior of Earth has a negligible influence on ‘energy whereas most of the emi ‘mosphere efficiently absorbs and emit uch warmer than it would be in the absence of ne, When averaged ov an near the poles. The a ‘gradient on surface temperature. Much of the character of Earth's evolution and climate has been determined by its position within the solar system, 2.2. The Solar System ‘The source for the energy to sustain life on Earth comes from the sun, Earth of our is one of about le star, whereas about ‘at which energy is released by 1 ~+ times less luminous and 10 times brighter than the sun, TI jon temperatures range from 2000 10 40,000 K,, whereas the temperature of the photosphere of the sun is about 6000 K. The photosphere of the sun from which most of its energy emission is released to space. range from 6.1 to 200 solar radii. Energy is proxiuced in the core of the sun by nuclear fusion, whereby lighter elements are made into heavier ones, relea sun, the projected 2.2 The Solar System 19 ua 1.99% 102% sequence is about 0 years, of which a solitary, middle-aged, medium-t 2.2.1 Planetary Motion a ellipses. which have three characteristics: the ‘mean planet-sun distance, the eccentricity, and the or! he orbital plane, ‘The mean -e from the sun controls the amount of solar energy flv densi (energy delivered per unit time per unit area) arriving at the planet, The mean dis- tance from the sun also controls the length ofthe plat nets orbit about theAlbedo ‘0088 ont 16 034 os t 030 587 1.00 Le ost 043 “ore on wis? Period of (aay) 0.206 oon ooi7 0.095 os 0.056 on? ‘0.009 o28r Oni eres) oP 3 2348 240 31 25% 980 28a “rs, are the ier planers. The remaining ve ae very ferent om Oblquty Length of year (9) 205 368 687 +330 ax 30,106 200 90,700 ‘Table23 Physical Duta for he Planets ‘Average from sun (0° ks) ro vo 150 2 1430 2370 4500 $000 titance (1967), Shapiro (1967) ® by the AAAS; and Dole (1970), Chamberlin and Hunton (1987), and probably chemical composition, The "They are the outer panes 526 532 394 135 089 Las 6s 10) 2439) ow on 3390) 69.500 58100 24500 2s.100 500) Mean are sinila to one ano “Dats in parentheses are uncer, Mase co, 338 58 643 19.100) 377 1030 (O16) $690 {Date from Allen (1973), Vavonnleurs (1964), Ash eal Venus ar Uranus rate in ti opposite sense othe her panes, The fs four panes are sila in size, mas, density Ean, bo spat fom Pt, Mercury Venus Ean Mars Supiter Sst Uranus Nepaine Phat Planet Energy Balance of Earth 2 he orientation of the orbital plane doesn’t have too much dircet through the year te, Most planets except Pluto are in more or less the same orbital bearing on the cli 10 to the orbit parameters, the parameters of the planets’ rotation and jonship to the orbit ure very important, The rotation rate controls the te the patterns of winds and currents that develop, ‘The obi 1 axis of rota plane of the orbit. It influences the seasonal variation of insolation, particular igh latitudes. It also strongly affects the annual mean insolation that reaches the polar regions. Currently the obliquity of Earth's axis of rotation is about 23.45°. ‘The longitude of perihelion measures the phase of the seasons rel planet's position in the orbit, For example, at present Earth passes closes (perihelion) during Southern Fi net, on about January 5. AS a rest the Southem Hemisphere receives more top-of-atmosphere insolation than the Northern Hemisphere. The effect of these orbitat parame! tate will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 11, where the orbital parameter theory of climate change is described. For the time being we consider only the distance from the sun and the obliquity oF decli- ion angle, 2.3, Energy Balance of Earth 2.3.1 First Law of Thermadynamies ‘The First Law of Thermodynamics states that energy is conserved. The first law for aa closed system may be stated as, “The heat added 10 a system is equal to the change in internal energy minus the work extracted.” This law may be expressed symboli- cally as dg=dv ~aw en Here dQ is the amount of heat added, dU is the change in the internal energy of the system, and dW is the work extracted fro Heat can be transported to and from a system in three ways. 1. Radiation: No mass is exchanged, and no medium is tequited. Pure radiant en- ergy moves at the speed of light. 2. Conduction: No mass is exchanged, but 2 medium is required to transfer heat by collisions between atoms or molecules. 3. Convection: Mass is exchanged. A net movement of mass may occur, but parcels with different energy amounts change places, so that, energy is exchanged without a net movement of mass (Fig. 2.1).2 2 The Globat Energy Balance energy between thus consider the space between the photo- he top of Earth's atmosphere to be a vacuum. In a vacuum, ly radiation can transport eneray. 2.3. Energy Balance of Barth 23 23.2 Energy Flux, Flux and Solar C ‘The sun puts out a nearly constant flux of energy that we call the solar % Lg = 3.9 x 102° W. We the average flux density at the photosphere by dividing this enerey flux by the area of the photosphere, Fluxd fux__ ly Beiztao Arbo : 3.910" W 22) ix from he flux density at any di vires Flux = Ly =Sy4nd From this we deduce that the flux density 5, is inversely proportional ince to the sua, We define the solar constant as the energy flux den- Solar constant = flux density at distance d = Sy = £0, ay ant? cis and the sun a ry the solar con- ly 8 constant on a sphere with afi ince of Earth from the sun (1.5 x I24 2 The Global Energy Balance Example: Emission Temperature of the Sun ulated earlier tha We can equate re is about 6.4 x 107 and derive an effective side a cavity at temperature T is Egy = oT. tio of the actual emission of a body or vol the blackbody emission at the same temperature. Eg = eoT* > e= Fa, 26) ray balance. The basic idea isto equate the so by a blackbody. This defines the Solar radiation absorbed = planetary radia the solar radiation absorbed we begin asures the y of solar radia net Sweeps ot of the beam of parallel energy flux, We call "ig. 2.2), Since the atmosphere of Earth is very thi its effect on the shadow area and use the radius of the solid plan the shadow area ‘We must also take account of the fact planet is absorbed, Some fract 2a on Temperature ofa Planet 2s 2 adow Area = 7, Shadow Area = 715 Fiz.22, Diagram in the shadow area. of aspherical . only 70% of this is absorbed by the climate system, about 240 W mr?, This amount of energy must be returned to of a blackbody. The area from which the emission occurs is the surface area of rather than the area of a ciscle. The terrestrial emi ix is thus, Bmitted tere 2.8) If we equate the absorbed planetary energy balance, which w , we obtain the 29 2.10) the ratio of the global surlace area of 2 sphere to its shadow area, which is the area of a 1e radius. The re may not be the actual surfac perature of | is merely the blackbody emission temperature a planet requires to b ance the solar energy it absorbs, "albedo comes from Latin word for"whiteness26 2 The Global Energy Balance Example: Emission Temperature of Earth Earth has an albedo of therefore 0.30. The emission temperature of Earth from (2.10) is [(i967 wm 4yi-03) Te ee) noss x =—18'C.0° 5.67x10"W m* K~ jon temperature of 255 K is much less than the observed global men su perature of 288 K = +15°C. To understand the difference we need to cou sider the greenhouse effec, 28 Greenhouse Effect One may illustrate the greenhouse effect with a very simple el ithe energy balance model used (0 define the emissi sumed to be a blackbody for is incorporated into the global energy balance (Fig. 2.3), nostly visible and near-infrared, sind Earth emits primari ie atmosphere may allect so energy balance at the top of the atmosphere int that defined the e thermal infrared radia- ion very differently. The nodel is the same a basic perature (2.9). Since the of the energy en urface below it and e1 tion emitted to space is from the atmosphere ergy balance at the top of the atmosphere is thus layer absorbs 2 blackbody, the only “2(1-a,)-0Tt = on! aun ‘Therefore we see that the temperature of the atmosphere in equilibrium must be the emission temperature in order t S P(t) Fig. 2.3 Diagram ofthe energy Radiative Flux Energy Balance 27 ture is much warmer, however, as we can see by deriving the energy balance for the atmosphere and the surface. The atmospheric energy balance gives oT! = oT; =20T! (2.12) and the surface energy balance is consistent a,)soT{=oT! = of! =207! 3) igram in Fig. 2.3 and the surface energy balance (2.13), ce temperature is increased because the atmosphere does not inhibit the flow of solar energy to the surface, but augments the 2.6 Global Radiative Flux Energy Balance The vertical flux of energy in the atmosphere is one of the most important climate processes. The radiative and nonradiative fluxes between the surface, the atmo. sphere, and space are key dé tion penetrates the atmosphere and the difficulty with which terrestrial radiation is !lmosphere determine the strength of the greenhouse effect, butions of radiative processes balance of the su percentages of ly averaged available solar radiation at the top of the mosphere, which is about 342 W m-?, The solar radiation and reflects 30%. Fully 50% of the insol the atmosphere reaches the surface and stratosphere is due most water vapor contribute due primarily to water vapor (13%) and clouds (39 and oxygen together contribute the remaining 1%. ternal exchanges between the surface and '% solar absorption in the troposphere is while carbon dioxide, ozone, uth. The main contributors to th ie ttoposphere are water vapor, clouds, carbon dioxide, ‘ozone, nitrous oxide, methane, and several nor constituents. Water vapor an ! ofthe current greenhouse effect. A good indicator of theef- sc ete smn im the longwave ping of longwav28 2 ae wed || 2 |e Net 21 aa ee I al ‘ground pass direct sphere. The troposphere receives 149 units from radi 103 units of longwave energy absor ion, and S of sensible he back to the ground and e jon from the atmosphere in surface temper. cool very rai he day. The green urface temperatures, but also limi n surface temperature ever land 2.7 Distribution of Insolation ‘Seasonal and latitudinal variations in temperature a of ins ‘rea at the mean position of Ear «10 the solar beam. Because Earth is ap- is spread over a surface a re flux per unit surface area smaller the surface area is fe. We may write the solar fux per unit sur- ie 2.5 indicates 1 cosine of face area as where dis the mean distance for actual sun The solar zenith angle depends on the son can be expressed in terms ofthe d tude of the point on the suriace of art m angle (5) currently varies between +23.45°jonometry Formulas (see Ap- cos 8, =sin 6 sin 5 +e08 9 ¢08 6 cos h 4 constant angle of & Wer hemisphere, where g and Sate o and currently Barth is somew! Southem Hemisphere summer than during Northern Hem the maximum raged over the entire year, the distribution given in erage insolation atthe top of the atmosphere at he equator with the at the equator goes throu Inselaton (wimg) “7 unewe Diurnal Zenith Angle (deg) a8 8 8 8 8 souryed Mong aug, gz souvreg BuouT Wa aL38 2 The Global Energy Balance asian Forong petavatis 0 10 20 80 40 50 60 70 60 90 Letitude ‘We can then use the observation of net radiation in Fig, 2.12 to derive the required ‘mean energy transport in the north-south direction. If we integrate the 1 the total energy flux across each k radiation over a polar cap area, we can ¢: itude belt in the following way: {te Re Rroatos a do aan W, oF 5 petawatts (PW) (Fig, 2.14). This fu the contributions from both the atmosphere and the ocean. The flux of energy in the atmosphere can be estimated from balloon and satellite perature, and humidity. If this flux is subtracted from the total flu mate of the oceanic energy flu measurements, At 30° of om the almospheric and ‘oceanic poleward fluxes are each about 2.5 PW. The ocean flux peaks at about 20°N in the subtropics, whereas the atmospheric fux has a broad maximum between 30°N ‘and 60°N. In Chapters 6 and 7 we inves the oceans accomplish this poleward flux of energy. Ifthe fluid envelope of Earth did ‘ot transport heat poleward, ies would be warmer and the polar reg) bbe much colder. Transport of heat by the atmosphere and the oceans of Earth much more equable than it would otherwise be. and Vander Hear (1976). Exercises 39 If we integrate over the globe, the horizontal transport is ince energy ‘not be removed from spherical Earth through hot transport. In the annual global average then, the net radi very close to zero, Any global mean net ra dliative imbalance will lead to a heating or cooling of Earth, Exercises 1. Use the data in Table 2.3 to calculate the emission temperatures for all of he planets. The actual e of Jupiter is about 124 K, How must you explain the the number in for Jupiter and 124 K? 2. Calculate the emission temperature of Earth if the solar luminosity is 309% is hypothesized 10 today’s albedo and Earths in Solar System history. Use he planetary albedo is changed 0%. ‘model illustrated in Fig. 2.3, calculate the surface temperature if the sorbed in the atmosphere, rather than at the surface. in Fig, 2.4, estimate the blackbody temperature of Barth's sur- blackbody temperature of the atmosphere as viewed from Earth's surface. How well do these temperatures agree with the temperatures derived from the model shown in Fi 6. Caleulate the solar zenith angle at 94x‘ local sun time at Seattle (47°N, 122°W) al summer solstice and at winter - Do the same for your hometown, 8 oriented east-west and has a slope on its north and sout A mountain range wanufactured that cireTes . The width of the ribbon normal to a radius vector originating at the he thickness of the ribbon in the radial di the distance of the 8. Inhis science fiction nov isthe emission temperature of the bon? Consider both the case in which heat is conducted tly from the s he dark side of the ribbon, and the ease in conducted from the sunlit to the dark side of the ribbon, Ex- n temperature is different from Earth's