On a day with complete cloud cover, what happens to the visible light headed toward Earth? The clouds reflect much of it back to space, though some still reaches the surface. … It is returned upward in the form of infrared light.
How much solar energy reaches Earth on a cloudless day quizlet?
On a clear day, about 80% of incoming solar radiation passes through the atmosphere to reach the earth’s surface. On a cloudy day, generally less than 50% of the incoming solar radiation will pass through the atmosphere and reach the earth’s surface.
What happens to most of the incoming solar energy on Earth?
About 23 percent of incoming solar energy is absorbed in the atmosphere by water vapor, dust, and ozone, and 48 percent passes through the atmosphere and is absorbed by the surface. Thus, about 71 percent of the total incoming solar energy is absorbed by the Earth system.
Why does the intensity of solar radiation striking Earth’s surface change when the Sun angle changes Choose all that apply quizlet?
Choose all that apply. Why does the intensity of solar radiation striking Earth’s surface change when the Sun angle changes? … The Sun’s rays take shorter paths to Earth when they strike at higher angles and longer paths to Earth when they strike at lower angles.
What type of light does Earth’s surface emit at night?
Yes, Earth’s surface gives off infrared light during both day and night. Objects with temperatures around 288K give off infrared energy all the time, including the human body (you!).
Where on Earth is the intensity of solar energy greatest quizlet?
Instantaneous solar radiation per unit area of Earth surface has its greatest intensity at the equator, moderate intensity in the middle latitudes, and least intensity at the poles.
How much of the Sun’s energy actually reaches the Earth quizlet?
About 19% of the energy available is absorbed by clouds, gases (like ozone), and particles in the atmosphere. Of the remaining 55% of the solar energy passing through the Earth’s atmosphere, 4% is reflected from the surface back to space. On average, about 51% of the Sun’s radiation reaches the surface.
What happens to most of the incoming solar energy on Earth quizlet?
Terms in this set (8)
Most incoming solar energy is absorbed by Earth’s land and water surfaces.
What happens to incoming solar radiation quizlet?
Less than one-quarter of incoming solar radiation is absorbed directly by the atmosphere. Nearly half of incoming radiation simply transmits through the atmosphere to Earth’s surface, where it is absorbed, warming the surface.
What happens to solar energy inside the greenhouse?
Solar energy absorbed at Earth’s surface is radiated back into the atmosphere as heat. … Greenhouse gases are more complex than other gas molecules in the atmosphere, with a structure that can absorb heat. They radiate the heat back to the Earth’s surface, to another greenhouse gas molecule, or out to space.
Why does the intensity of solar radiation striking Earth surface change when the sun angle changes?
The Sun’s rays take shorter paths to Earth when they strike at higher angles and longer paths to Earth when they strike at lower angles. These longer paths reduce the intensity of solar radiation at Earth’s surface.
Why does the intensity of solar radiation striking Earth’s surface?
Changes in the location of the Sun have a direct effect on the intensity of solar radiation. … If the Sun is 45° above the horizon, the incoming insolation strikes the Earth’s surface at an angle. This causes the rays to be spread out over a larger surface area reducing the intensity of the radiation.
What causes the development of most clouds and precipitation in the atmosphere?
Rising warm air cools, resulting in cloud formation and rain. … Rising warm air cools, resulting in cloud formation and rain.
What happens to visible light that is absorbed by Earth’s surface quizlet?
Infrared are long and ultraviolit are short. What happens to most of the sunlight that reaches Earth? Most of the sunlight is aborbed or reflected by the atmosphere before it can reach the surface. The rest passes through the atmosphere to the surface.
Can humans see visible light?
The visible light spectrum is the segment of the electromagnetic spectrum that the human eye can view. More simply, this range of wavelengths is called visible light. Typically, the human eye can detect wavelengths from 380 to 700 nanometers.
What happens to the Earth’s heat at night?
Once the sun goes down, the earth’s surface will begin to cool (energy emitted is greater than energy received). This causes the earth’s surface to become progressively cooler during the night. … As long as the sun is supplying more energy than the earth can emit, the surface will warm.
Which part of Earth receives the greatest intensity of solar radiation?
The sun’s rays do not strike the Earth’s surface as directly at the North Pole; they are less focused. The equator receives the most solar radiation in a year.
Where does the energy come from that drives most natural systems on Earth?
Most of the energy in the Earth system comes from just a few sources: solar energy, gravity, radioactive decay, and the rotation of the Earth. Solar energy drives many surface processes such as winds, currents, the hydrologic cycle, and the overall climate system.
How does radiation leaving the Earth vary from solar radiation received by the Earth quizlet?
How does solar radiation arriving on Earth differ from the back radiation emitted by Earth? Back radiation occurs at wavelengths lying in the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum, which is at longer wavelengths than the incoming shortwave solar radiation, chichis in the range of visible light.
How does heat energy reach the Earth from the Sun quizlet?
Energy from the Sun is transferred to Earth through convection. Radiation requires a heated liquid to transfer energy. Nearly all of the energy that Earth receives from the Sun is used in photosynthesis. In the atmosphere water vapor condenses to form clouds.
How does the Sun’s energy reach Earth quizlet?
Most of the energy from the sun travels to Earth in the form of visible light and infrared radiation. A small amount arrives as ultraviolet radiation. … Some sunlight is absorbed or reflected by the atmosphere before it can reach the surface. The rest passes through the atmosphere to the surface.
How much of the Sun’s energy actually reaches the Earth?
All of the energy the sun releases does not reach Earth. One one-billionth of the Sun’s total energy output actually reaches the Earth. Of all the energy that does reach Earth, slightly less than 34 percent is reflected back to space by clouds. The Earth itself reflects another 66 percent back to space.
How much of the incoming solar radiation is absorbed by the atmosphere and clouds quizlet?
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.
How does the earth release energy back into the atmosphere quizlet?
When Earth’s surface is heated, it radiates most of the energy back into the atmosphere as infrared radiation. Much of this energy is held by the atmosphere, warming it. … radiation, conduction, and convection.
Which of the following absorbs most incoming solar radiation quizlet?
Most incoming solar energy is absorbed by Earth’s land and water surfaces.
What happens to the energy that the ground absorbs in the form of visible light?
What happens to the energy that the ground absorbs in the form of visible sunlight? It is returned upward in the form of infrared light.
What is the term used for incoming solar radiation?
Definition of insolation
1 : exposure to the sun’s rays.
Which is the greenhouse effect?
The greenhouse effect is the way in which heat is trapped close to Earth’s surface by “greenhouse gases.” These heat-trapping gases can be thought of as a blanket wrapped around Earth, keeping the planet toastier than it would be without them. … Without carbon dioxide, Earth’s surface would be some 33°C (59°F) cooler.
Do greenhouse gases absorb visible light?
These molecules are called “greenhouse gases” because they have a very special property. They do not absorb the visible light from the sun, but they do absorb the infrared light radiated by the Earth’s surface.
Where do greenhouse gases get trapped?
The greenhouse effect is a process that occurs when gases in Earth’s atmosphere trap the Sun’s heat. This process makes Earth much warmer than it would be without an atmosphere.
What happens with the energy that enters the Earth’s atmosphere and to the surface?
About 23% of incoming energy is absorbed in the atmosphere by atmospheric gases, dust, and other particles. The remaining 48% is absorbed at the surface. (NASA illustration by Robert Simmon.
What is the relationship between day length and radiation intensity?
The relationship between season, day-length and solar radiation is all pretty straight-forward. As you get closer to winter, your days get shorter (assuming you don’t live on the equator) and having less hours of daylight reduces the amount of solar energy you receive over the course of a day.
What causes the intensity and duration of solar radiation received at any place to vary throughout?
Explanation: at equator sun light strikes at 90 degree. But as you move away to poles the angle at which sun light strikes the surface changes and so intensity is reduced. Other things ;like clouds, fog effect the intensity.
How does the angle of the sun change throughout the day?
As a result of this tilt, the sun is high in the northern hemisphere in May, June and July and low in November, December and January. Low sun angle goes with shorter days and cooler temperatures. The closer a place is to the equator, the higher the average sun angle is.
What is the solar radiation reacting the Earth’s surface?
The solar radiation that reaches the Earth’s surface without being diffused is called direct beam solar radiation. The sum of the diffuse and direct solar radiation is called global solar radiation. Atmospheric conditions can reduce direct beam radiation by 10% on clear, dry days and by 100% during thick, cloudy days.
How the solar radiation is scattered as it enters the Earth’s atmosphere?
Scattering of solar radiation occurs when the radiation strikes very small objects in Earth’s atmosphere, such as air molecules, tiny water droplets, ice crystals, or aerosols (tiny airborne particles), which disperse the solar radiation in all directions.
How clouds are formed and bring us rain?
Clouds are made of water droplets. Within a cloud, water droplets condense onto one another, causing the droplets to grow. When these water droplets get too heavy to stay suspended in the cloud, they fall to Earth as rain. … All these forms of water don’t fall out of a clear, blue sky.
How do clouds form in the sky?
Clouds form when the invisible water vapor in the air condenses into visible water droplets or ice crystals. For this to happen, the parcel of air must be saturated, i.e. unable to hold all the water it contains in vapor form, so it starts to condense into a liquid or solid form.
Where do clouds form in the atmosphere?
Clouds generally form within the troposphere, or the layer of atmosphere closest to the earth. As they rise and fall, they may appear in infinite variations.
What happens to visible light that enters Earth’s atmosphere?
As the light enters the atmosphere, some of it is scattered by air molecules or reflected from white clouds back into space. Since air is mostly transparent to visible light, much of the light that isn’t reflected back into space goes through the atmosphere to Earth’s surface.
Where does visible light exist naturally?
How do we “see” using Visible Light? Cones in our eyes are receivers for these tiny visible light waves. The Sun is a natural source for visible light waves and our eyes see the reflection of this sunlight off the objects around us. The color of an object that we see is the color of light reflected.
When Earth cools most of the energy transferred from Earth’s surface to space is transferred by the process of?
Energy is transferred between the Earth’s surface and the atmosphere in a variety of ways, including radiation, conduction, and convection. Conduction is one of the three main ways that heat energy moves from place to place. The other two ways heat moves around are radiation and convection.