The phrase
"atmospheric absorption" refers to the process through which the Earth's atmosphere absorbs or takes in certain types of energy or radiation from the sun or other sources. It means that the atmosphere captures a portion of incoming energy, such as heat or light, before it reaches the Earth's surface.
Full definition
The total amount of
LW atmospheric absorption at the eventual (statistical) steady state will be larger than the 4W / m2 forcing (probably about 10 - 20 W / m2), hence implying that the eventual temperature rise will be larger than the «no - feedback» response.
If, in fact, it is ever demonstrated that there was any significant bias or errors in the VOS SST observations, there would then also follow certain consequences to the accuracy of those satellite observations, which used the in - situ observations of the VOS network to calibrate the satellite data
for atmospheric absorption coefficients.
Scientists compared long - exposure optical photographs of two different triggered lightning events (on top) with acoustically imaged profiles of the discharge channel (below), corrected for sound speed propagation and
atmospheric absorption effects.
Most atmospheric absorption takes place at ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths, so more than 90 percent of the visible portion of the solar spectrum, with wavelengths between 0.4 and 0.7 μm (0.00002 to 0.00003 inch), reaches the surface on a cloud - free day.
The incoming Sun's radiation is 3.5 times greater in intensity than the outgoing Earth's radiation, hence the Sun's infrared is 1.6 times greater in intensity than the Earth's radiation and experiences the
same atmospheric absorption spectra as the Earth radiation.
CH4, O3, OH and others in the stratosphere and up, that ignored 20 % of the atmosphere, with Brewer - Dobson circulation, refraction / defraction that adds about 1.5 hours to the «day» as twilight and absorbs about 20Wm - 2 of the 75Wm - 2 total
SW atmospheric absorption might be called GHE 201.
According to Bond et al. «
global atmospheric absorption attributable to black carbon is too low in many models, and should be increased by a factor of almost three.»
atmospheric absorption by CO2 and water vapor increases, reducing the solar heating at the surface, and surface evaporation increases faster with temperature than the transfer of sensible heat (due to the Clausius - Clapeyron relation), both of which tend to reduce the diurnal cycle.
The popular explanation of the greenhouse effect as the result of the
LW atmospheric absorption of the surface radiation and the surface heating by the atmospheric downward radiation is incorrect, since the involved flux terms (AA and ED) are always equal.
At least part of the change in DTR seems to be due to
atmospheric absorption of solar energy, and by latent heat from increased evaporation [Cao et al. 1992, J. Climate, 5, 920]:
Because of
atmospheric absorption, X-ray telescopes must be carried to high altitudes by rockets or balloons or placed in orbit outside the atmosphere.
Instead the entire atmosphere will get warmer (assuming
no atmospheric absorption of incoming solar radiation).
About a little under 1 / 3rd of
atmospheric absorption is from CO2 and other GHGs and over 2 / 3rds is from water vapor.
The size of the greenhouse effect is often estimated as being the difference between the actual global surface temperature and the temperature the planet would be without
any atmospheric absorption, but with exactly the same planetary albedo, around 33 °C.
Yet models of
atmospheric absorption that only take into account the water molecule's well - known rotational and vibration - rotational transitions don't match up with measurements of the atmosphere's absorption spectrum [1]....
Diagram of
atmospheric absorption, noting effects of various gases, using data from MODIS.