how much solar radiation is reflected back by clouds?
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Solar Energy, Albedo, and the Polar Regions Snow, ice, and clouds have high albedos (typically from 0.7 to 0.9) and reflect more energy than they absorb. Earth’s average albedo is about 0.3. In other words, about 30 percent of incoming solar radiation is reflected back into space and 70 percent is absorbed. A sensor aboard NASA’s Terra satellite is now collecting detailed measurements of how much sunlight the earth’s surface reflects back up into the atmosphere.
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Energy: The Driver of Climate Radiation Balance for Both Earth’s Surface and Atmosphere. The incoming solar radiation is absorbed at Earth’s surface (51 units) and by the atmosphere and clouds (19 units). This is balanced by the infrared radiation emitted from Earth’s surface (6 units) and from the atmosphere (64 units) which are both lost to space. Radiation Balance for both Earth's Surface and Atmosphere.
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Solar Energy, Albedo, and the Polar Regions For example, land and ocean have low albedos (typically from 0.1 to 0.4) and absorb more energy than they reflect. Snow, ice, and clouds have high albedos (typically from 0.7 to 0.9) and reflect more energy than they absorb. Earth’s average albedo is about 0.3. In other words, about 30 percent of incoming solar radiation is reflected back into space and 70 percent is absorbed.
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- Even small changes in these parameters can affect climate. Around 30 percent of the solar energy that strikes Earth is reflected back into space. Clouds, atmospheric aerosols, snow, ice, sand, ocean surface and even rooftops play a role in deflecting the incoming rays.
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Do clouds warm or cool the climate? Thus the net effect of clouds on the climate is to cool the surface by about 5C, at least under the current global distribution of clouds. Clouds reflect about 50 W m-2 of solar radiation up into space, and radiate about 30 W m-2 down to the ground, so the net effect is 20 W m-2 cooling on average.
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Does solar radiation heat the earth's surface? The clouds, water vapor and ozone absorb about 23% of solar energy  coming into the earth's atmosphere. 25% of incoming solar energy is  transferred from the surface into th…e atmosphere. An approximate  53% total transfer of incoming solar energy is absorbed by the  earth's surface elements.
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- If a planet has no atmosphere all of the sunlight which strikes it reaches the surface, and usually 90% or more of that is absorbed and 10% or less is reflected back into space.
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Sunlight Other sources indicate an Average over the entire earth of 164 Watts per square meter over a 24 hour day. The ultraviolet radiation in sunlight has both positive and negative health effects, as it is both a principal source of vitamin D3 and a mutagen.
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Ecology Chapter 2 Only 51 percent of incoming solar radiation actually reaches Earth's surface. Most of the remaining 49 percent of incoming radiation is reflected back to space by. clouds and the atmosphere. Of the 51 units of solar radiation that reach Earth's surface, _____ units used lost to the evaporation of water.
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Lecture 29: The Earth's Atmosphere The Energy Budget for Sunlight: 1  45% is absorbed by the ground (heats the ground) 2  22% is absorbed in the atmosphere (heats the air) 3  26% is reflected back into space by clouds and lost.  7% is reflected back into space by the ground, oceans, snow & ice.
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Sunlight The total amount of energy received at ground level from the Sun at the zenith depends on the distance to the Sun and thus on the time of year. It is about 3.3% higher than average in January and 3.3% lower in July (see below).
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Basics of Solar EnergyThe Sun --> Always there; lots of EnergyWhat Makes the Sun Shine? Nuclear Fusion; something we may learn how to do later on the Earth and thus solve our Energy Problem.How many photons (energy) reach the surface of the Earth on Average?The energy balance in the atmosphere is shown here: A site in Eastern Oregon receives 600 watts per square meter of solar radiation in July. Asuume that the solar panels are 10% efficient and that the are illuminated for 8 hours.
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Solar energy Solar radiation reaches the Earth's upper Earth's atmosphere with the power of 1366 watts per square meter (W/m 2). Since the Earth is round, the surface nearer its poles is angled away from the Sun and receives much less solar energy than the surface nearer the equator.
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- The solar radiation intensity at Earth's surface is only about a tenth of what is experienced in Space at Earth's orbit. The Earth's magnetic field also redirects and removes much of the charged-particle radiation approaching Earth. A thick atmosphere of light molecules is an excellent protection against radiation. In fact, very light molecules such as hydrogen and helium are even better than heavier molecules to take out the higher-energy particles. Water is probably the most effective radiation shield of all. Unfortunately, there is no evident way of generating either a thick atmosphere (which requires strong gravity to hold it in place) or a blanket of water a couple of feet thick for habitats of any considerable size.
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General Astronomy/Print version Understand that lightly colored surfaces (snow and ice, for example) have a higher albedo. than darker colored surfaces (trees, blacktop roads, etc.). Background Information. The albedo of an object is a measure of how strongly it reflects light from light sources such as the Sun. Albedo is the percentage of incoming light that is reflected rather than absorbed. It is thought that the. Earth’s average albedo is around 30%. Energy in the form of visible radiation (light) from the Sun warms. the earth. Some of the energy from the Sun is reflected back into space while some of the energy is. absorbed. Clouds, snow, ice, land, and particles or pollutants in the atmosphere can all reflect energy.
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- Most solar energy is absorbed at the surface, while most heat is radiated back to space by the atmosphere. Earth's average surface temperature is maintained by two large, opposing energy fluxes between the atmosphere and the ground (right)—the greenhouse effect.
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Clouds effects on radiation and heat..? Most of this emitted radiation is at longer wavelengths than solar radiation. Unlike solar radiation, which is mostly at wavelengths visible to the human eye, the Earth's longwave radiation is mostly at infrared wavelengths, which are invisible to the human eye.
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Clouds effects on radiation and heat..? Low, thick clouds primarily reflect solar radiation and cool the surface of the Earth. High, thin clouds primarily transmit incoming solar radiation; at the same time, they trap some of the outgoing infrared radiation emitted by the Earth and radiate it back downward, thereby warming the surface of the Earth.
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Greenhouse effect Of the total amount of energy available at the top of the atmosphere (TOA), about 26% is reflected back out to space by the atmosphere and clouds and 19% is absorbed by the atmosphere and clouds. Most of the remaining energy is absorbed at the Earth's surface.
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- While the solar radiation incident on the Earth's atmosphere is relatively constant, the radiation at the Earth's surface varies widely due to: atmospheric effects, including absorption and scattering; local variations in the atmosphere, such as water vapour, clouds, and pollution;
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Earth's Energy Balance 100% of the energy entering earth’s atmosphere comes from the sun. ~50% of the incoming energy is absorbed by the earth’s surface i.e. the land and oceans. ~30% is directly reflected back to space by clouds, the earth’s surface and different gases and particles in the atmosphere (the earth's albedo is 0.3 on average).
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- NASA publications confirm (Science 308, 1431-1435) that Earth absorbs more energy from the Sun that it is able to reflect to space - about 0.85 MegaWatt per square kilometer more. Pollution increases daily and Solar activity is on the increase until 2012.
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- Yet this amount of energy is enormous. The sun provides more energy in an hour than the United States can use in a year! About 30 percent of the radiant energy that reaches the Earth is reflected back into space. About half of the radiant energy is absorbed by land and oceans.
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- While the sun does emit  ultraviolet radiation, the majority of solar energy comes in the form of light and heat, in the visible and infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. As shown in Table 2, visible light spans the relatively narrow range of 0.4 to 0.9 µm (or 400 to 700 nm).
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Energy in Earth's Atmosphere 50% is absorbed by the Earth's surface. This energy heats the land and water. 20% is absorbed by gases and particles in the atmosphere. 25% on incoming sunlight is reflected by clouds, dust, and gases in the air. 5% is reflected by the surface back into the atmosphere.
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Greenhouse effect Part of this radiation is directed towards the surface, warming it. On Earth, solar radiation at the frequencies of visible light largely passes through the atmosphere to warm the planetary surface. The surface itself emits energy at the lower frequencies of infrared thermal radiation. Infrared radiation is absorbed by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. These gases also radiate energy, some of which is directed to the surface and lower atmosphere.