Table of Contents
Do greenhouse gases absorb shortwave or longwave radiation?
Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere (such as water vapor and carbon dioxide) absorb most of the Earth’s emitted longwave infrared radiation, which heats the lower atmosphere.
What wavelengths do greenhouse gases absorb?
Water vapor and carbon dioxide can absorb radiation wavelengths in the range of 4 μm to 80 μm, except those between 8 μm and 12 μm. Ozone can absorb wavelengths between 9 μm and 10 μm, but as you have learned, it is found in low concentrations.
What gas absorbs shortwave?
These gases are selective as to which wavelengths they will absorb. For example, ozone absorbs shortwave ultraviolet radiation whereas water vapor absorbs infrared radiation more readily. Most of the sun’s radiation that passes through the atmosphere to hit the earth is in the visible part of the spectrum.
What greenhouse gas absorbs the sun’s incoming shortwave radiation?
Ozone
Ozone, which is concentrated in the lower stratosphere (Figure 2.14), absorbs incoming UV radiation from the sun which results in a warming of the stratosphere. Ozone also acts as a greenhouse gas.
What do greenhouse gases do with the radiation they absorb?
The added greenhouse gases absorb the heat. They then radiate this heat. Some of the heat will head away from the Earth, some of it will be absorbed by another greenhouse gas molecule, and some of it will wind up back at the planet’s surface again. With more greenhouse gases, heat will stick around, warming the planet.
What is longwave and shortwave radiation?
Shortwave radiation (visible light) contains a lot of energy; longwave radiation (infrared light) contains less energy than shortwave radiation (shortwave radiation has a shorter wavelength than longwave radation). The ground heats up and re-emits energy as longwave radiation in the form of infrared rays.
What do greenhouse gases do to the radiation?
Greenhouse gases are transparent to incoming (short-wave) radiation from the sun but block infrared (long-wave) radiation from leaving the earth’s atmosphere. This greenhouse effect traps radiation from the sun and warms the planet’s surface.
What type of radiation is trapped by the greenhouse effect?
infrared light
The Earth absorbs this energy from the Sun and reemits it in the form of invisible infrared light. This energy is trapped by the greenhouse effect. Greenhouse gases have various shapes that make them effective at absorbing infrared radiation emitted by Earth.
What is shortwave solar radiation?
Shortwave radiation is a radiant energy produced by the sun with wavelengths ranging from infrared through visible to ultraviolet. Shortwave radiation is therefore exclusively associated with daylight hours for a particular location on the Earth’s surface.
What do the molecules of greenhouse gases do that make them greenhouse gases?
The major ones are carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, and nitrous oxide. These gas molecules all are made of three or more atoms. Eventually, the vibrating molecules release the radiation, which will likely be absorbed by another greenhouse gas molecule. This process keeps heat near the Earth’s surface.
Does the Sun emit shortwave radiation?
Energy released from the Sun is emitted as shortwave light and ultraviolet energy. When it reaches the Earth, some is reflected back to space by clouds, some is absorbed by the atmosphere, and some is absorbed at the Earth’s surface. Shortwave radiation reflected to space by the earth’s surface.
What gases absorb ultraviolet radiation?
Nitrogen, oxygen and ozone molecules in the upper atmosphere and stratosphere absorb ultraviolet light from the Sun, providing a shield that prevents this radiation from passing to the Earth’s surface.