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Atmospheric Radiation

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Lectures in Meteorology

Part of the book series: Springer Atmospheric Sciences ((SPRINGERATMO))

Abstract

This chapter covers the nomenclature and basic quantities used in meteorology to describe the atmospheric radiation processes. The principle of blackbody radiation, shortwave and long-wave radiation are applied to the atmosphere. The basics of the interaction radiation-atmosphere and the radiative transfer are presented. The radiative transfer equation including the solution for a plane-parallel non-scattering atmosphere are discussed. Finally the concepts are applied to the global radiation and surface energy budgets and discussed in view of climate. The chapter also covers remote sensing applications from satellites and the greenhouse effect.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Think of a fork put at one end in a grill fire. It will get hot on the other one.

  2. 2.

    For example boiling water in a pot.

  3. 3.

    Max Karl Ernst Planck, German physicist, 1858–1947.

  4. 4.

    NaCl, for instance, when put into a flame emits yellow light.

  5. 5.

    X-rays, for example, have an extremely short wavelengths (Table 4.1) and can be used to detect broken bones as the waves can travel through tissue. Compared to X-rays, ordinary light has longer wavelengths and is absorbed by the skin.

  6. 6.

    Correctly spoken, the orbit of the barycenter of the Earth-Moon system.

  7. 7.

    Gustav Robert Kirchoff, German physicist, 1824–1887.

  8. 8.

    Wilhelm Karl Werner Wien, German physicist 1864–1928.

  9. 9.

    The reader is referred to the paper of Kramm and Herbert (2006) in which these radiation laws are derived using principles of dimensional analysis and discussed.

  10. 10.

    Lord Rayleigh (John William Strutt), English mathematician and physicist, 1842–1919.

  11. 11.

    Louis Carl Heinrich Friedrich Paschen, German physicist, 1865–1947.

  12. 12.

    Ludwig Eduard Boltzmann, Austrian physicist, 1844–1906.

  13. 13.

    Paul Ehrenfest, Austrian and Dutch physicist, 1880–1953.

  14. 14.

    Think of a stove that is black as it is cold and turns to red as it gets hot.

  15. 15.

    Josef Stefan, Austrian physicist, 1835–1893.

  16. 16.

    The value of this constant is easy to remember: know that it begins with 5, count to 8, and keep in mind that there are digits after the 5, a minus before the 8, and a 10 in between.

  17. 17.

    Hotter bodies emit more energy than cooler ones.

  18. 18.

    Gustav Adolf Ludwig Mie, German physicist, 1868–1957.

  19. 19.

    James Clerk Maxwell, British physicist, 1831–1879.

  20. 20.

    The reader is referred to Liou’s textbook.

  21. 21.

    Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, Indian physicists, 1888–1970.

  22. 22.

    A paved parking lot, for instance, is a specular reflector in the radio part of the spectrum, but a diffuse reflector in visible part.

  23. 23.

    See reference list for suggestions.

  24. 24.

    Christian Andreas Doppler, Austrian physicist, 1803–1853.

  25. 25.

    Hendrik Lorentz, Nobel Price Laureate in 1902 with Pieter Zeeman, Dutch physicist, 1853–1928.

  26. 26.

    Woldemar Voigt, German physicist, 1850–1919.

  27. 27.

    Albert Einstein, German-American physicist, 1879–1955.

  28. 28.

    Edward Arthur Milne, British astrophysicist, 1896–1950.

  29. 29.

    Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac, British physicist, 1902–1984.

  30. 30.

    Richard Chace Tolman, American physical chemist, 1881–1948.

  31. 31.

    The reader is referred, for instance, to the textbook of Kidder and Vonder Haar (1995).

  32. 32.

    Be aware of the fact that the following values of the units slightly vary from author to author. These values just intend to assess the processes relative to each other.

  33. 33.

    Remind yourself of the difference in walking over grass and dark, dry bare soil or the difference in walking over black dry and black wet sand at a beach on a hot summer day.

  34. 34.

    Greenhouses are more effective because they inhibit convection than they are because they trap radiation. Thus, the comparison to a greenhouse is somehow awkward.

  35. 35.

    Aristarchus was the first to determine this distance in 250 BC.

  36. 36.

    Material, concepts, ideas and problems of the following books and articles inspired this chapter. These sources are recommended for further reading.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Atmospheric Sciences College of Natural Science and Mathematics Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA

    Nicole Mölders

  2. Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, USA

    Gerhard Kramm

Authors
  1. Nicole Mölders
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  2. Gerhard Kramm
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Mölders, N., Kramm, G. (2014). Atmospheric Radiation. In: Lectures in Meteorology. Springer Atmospheric Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02144-7_4

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