National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Energy and the Atmosphere

www.nasa.gov

Dr. Lin H. Chambers, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA

New Orleans, Oct. 29, 2010

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Mars

Venus

Earth

Mercury

Our Natural Place … in the Big Picture

Not to Scale

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Mars Ts= -113 to 0 C

Venus Ts=450 C!

Earth

Mercury: Ts=425 C

Our Natural Place … in the Big Picture

425 C ~ 800 F

“Too hot!”“Too cold!”

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Mars Ts= -113 to 0 C

Venus Ts=450 C!

Earth: Ts= -18 C*

Mercury: Ts=425 C

Our Natural Place … in the Big Picture

425 C ~ 800 F *No atmosphere

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Mars Ts= -113 to 0 C

Venus Ts=450 C!

Earth: Ts= 15 C*

Mercury: Ts=425 C

Our Natural Place … for Life

425 C ~ 800 F *With atmosphere

“Just right”

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What Determines a Planet’sTemperature?

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EARTH'S ENERGY BUDGET

Incomingsolar energy100%

Reflected byatmosphere

6%

Reflectedby clouds20%

Reflected fromearth's surface4%

Absorbed by atmosphere 16%

Conduction andrising air 7%

Absorbed by clouds 3%

Radiated to spacefrom clouds andatmosphere

64% 6%

Radiated directly to space from earth

Carried to clouds and atmophere by latent heat in water vapor 23%

Radiation absorbed by atmosphere 15%

Absorbed by land and oceans 51%

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The Energy Budget

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The Energy Budget - An Analogy

Winter Summer

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The Energy Budget - V.2

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The Energy Budget - Location

Top of Atmosphere (TOA)

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The Energy Budget - Location

Surface (SFC)

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The Energy Budget – Direction

Down

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The Energy Budget – Direction

Up

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Shortwave (SW)or Solar

Shortwave (SW)or Solar

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The Energy Budget - Wavelength

Shortwave (SW)or Solar

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The Energy Budget - Wavelength

Longwave (LW)Or Infrared

(Heat)

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The Final Frontier

In atmosphere budget

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The Energy Budget - Data

http://mynasadata.larc.nasa.gov

Click Data Access

Choose Live Access Server

Choose Data Parameter

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The Energy Budget - Data

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TOA Shortwave Down

What variables affect this?

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TOA Shortwave Down

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Surface Shortwave Down

What variables affect this?

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Surface Shortwave Down

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Surface Shortwave Up

What variables affect this?

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Surface Shortwave Up

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Surface Shortwave Up

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Surface Longwave Up

What variables affect this?

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Surface Longwave Up

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TOA Longwave Up

What variables affect this?

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TOA Longwave Up

How We Measure

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The CERES Instrument

3 telescopes

• Shortwave (SW)

• Total spectrum (TOT)

• Window channel (LW)

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Satellites Carrying theCERES Instrument

•TRMM Satellitelaunched 1997

•TERRA Satellitelaunched 1999

•Aqua Satellitelaunched 2002

• NPP (2011)• NPOESS (201?)

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First Year of CERES Data

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How we Validate

•Lots of high tech methods, but also

•Student involvement:

Observe clouds at the time of the CERES satellite overpass

The CERES

S’COOL Project

http://scool.larc.nasa.gov

Observe from anywhere

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