 This is done by absorption and scattering of the wavelengths representing long-wave radiation since absorption will cause the radiation to stay in the cloud and scattering will reflect the radiation back to earth.the atmosphere generally absorbs long-wave radiation well due to absorption by water vapour, carbon dioxide, and ozone.Assuming no cloud cover, most long-wave up-welling radiation travels to space through the atmospheric window occurring in the electromagnetic wavelength region between 8 and 11 μm where the atmosphere does not absorb long-wave radiation except for in the small region within this between 9.6 and 9.8 μm.