What Role does Solar Radiation play in Determining the Earths Climate?
Energy or solar radiation enters the atmosphere as sunshine. The sky reflects a portion of this radiation, the rest is absorbed by the Earth and is eventually released again as thermal radiation. Both man-made and naturally occurring events can limit the amount of solar radiation at the earth’s surface. Urban air pollution, smoke from forest fires, and airborne ash resulting from volcanic activity reduce the solar resource by increasing the scattering and absorption of solar radiation. Some scientists think of the radiation budget in terms of a balance. If the Earth gets more energy from the Sun, the Earth heats up and emits more thermal energy. This brings the radiation budget into balance. If the Earth emits more of this thermal energy than it absorbs from solar radiation, the Earth cools off. As it cools off, the Earth emits less energy. This change also brings the radiation budget back into balance.
