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A new diagram of Earth’s global energy budget

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Abstract

A new global mean energy budget diagram is offered for discussion and further examination. The main motivation for creating this figure was the observation that a quasi-discrete flux quantity structure seems to appear behind the best published energy budget data. This structure underneath the observed global energy flow system might represent an idealized, hypothetic normal (steady) state onto which the actual climatic regimes and their changes can be projected. The unit of the all-sky structure is the value of the flux element called longwave cloud radiative effect (LWCRE), termed also the greenhouse effect of clouds; under prevailing average conditions, it turns out to be numerically equal to the all-sky surface transmitted irradiance, ST(all). There is also a clear-sky structure, as reported in earlier studies, where the unit of measure is one ST(clear). Three important features are independent of the discrete units: (a) the energies at the surface are equal to the total energy at top-of-atmosphere plus one LWCRE; (b) the energies in the atmosphere are equal to the energy at the surface plus two LWCRE; (c) the shortwave (SW) radiation absorbed by the surface is equal to the longwave (LW) energy in the all-sky greenhouse effect. The aim of our study is to present the system as it reveals itself in the data; theoretical explanation is out of our recent scope.

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Abbreviations

ASR:

Absorbed (=incoming minus reflected) solar radiation

β:

Cloud area fraction

CERES:

Clouds and the Earth’s radiant energy system

EBAF:

Energy balanced and filled

f :

Transfer function, f = OLR/SU, also called planetary emissivity

g :

Greenhouse function, g = G/SU = 1 − f

G:

Greenhouse effect, G = SU − OLR

GEWEX:

Global energy and water exchanges project

ISCCP:

International satellite cloud climatology project

LA :

Longwave radiation absorbed in the atmosphere

LD :

Downward emitted atmospheric longwave radiation at the surface, also termed DLR or ‘back-radiation’

LU :

Upward emitted atmospheric longwave radiation at TOA, also termed ‘thermal cooling to space’

LH:

Latent heat (evapotranspiration)

LWCRE:

Longwave cloud radiative effect

NET:

Surface net longwave radiative cooling, NET = SU − LD(all)

OLR:

Outgoing longwave radiation

SA :

Shortwave radiation absorbed in the atmosphere

SH:

Sensible heat (thermals, convection)

SRF:

Surface

ST :

Surface transmitted irradiance

SU :

Surface upward longwave radiation

TA :

Longwave transmittance, TA = ST/SU

TOA:

Top of the atmosphere

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Acknowledgments

This work was partly supported by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, contract No. 17/2010, 29.543/2010. The Geodetic and Geophysical Research Institute, Sopron, is highly appreciated for adopting this project.

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  1. Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary

    Miklos Zagoni

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  1. Miklos Zagoni
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Zagoni, M. A new diagram of Earth’s global energy budget. Acta Geod Geophys 51, 481–492 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40328-015-0138-0

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