Images & Animations
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Credit
A portion of the sunlight that reaches Earth is absorbed into the system, while some of the light is reflected by our planet back into space. Some of the sunlight that gets absorbed is converted to heat and later emitted by the surface and atmosphere back up into space. The term "net radiation" refers to the total amount of sunlight and heat energy that does not escape from the top of the Earth's atmosphere back into space. More precisely, net radiation is the sum total of shortwave and longwave electromagnetic energy, at wavelengths ranging from 0.3 to 100 micrometers, that remains in the Earth system. The image above is a false-color map showing the net incoming energy (in Watts per square meter) that was contained in the Earth system for the given month(s). Regions of positive net radiation indicate areas of energy surplus in the Earth system (i.e., green regions over the tropics) and areas of negative net radiation signify regions of energy deficit (such as blue regions over high latitudes and the poles).
Metadata
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Sensor
Terra/CERES, ERBS/ERBE, NOAA 9/ERBE, NOAA 10/ERBE
