The EarthΓÇÖs radiation budget accounts for the balance of incoming shortwave (SW) radiation from the Sun and longwave (LW) radiation exiting from the Earth-atmosphere system at various time and space scales.
When incoming shortwave solar radiation, known as insolation, enters the EarthΓÇÖs climate system, a portion of it is absorbed at the EarthΓÇÖs surface, causing the surface to heat up and a portion is reflected back to space as outgoing shortwave radiation. Some of the absorbed energy is then radiated outward in the form of longwave infrared radiation. Cloud layers trap some of the radiation from the EarthΓÇÖs surface, and then emit longwave radiation, both out to space and back to the surface.
