Both the longwave and shortwave radiation images show smaller amounts of outgoing radiation in colors ranging from blue to green, with blue being lowest; higher amounts are shown in colors ranging from green to pink, with pink being highest. Energy emitted by the EarthΓÇÖs climate system tends to maintain a balance with solar energy coming into the system. This balance, known as the radiation budget, allows the Earth to maintain the moderate temperature range essential for life as we know it.
______________
The images represent the average amount and distribution of reflected shortwave radiation and longwave radiation that was radiated from the Earth to space by the EarthΓÇÖs climate system during July 1985, as measured by the NASA Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE) instruments on the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) and the NOAA-9 satellite.
Continuing research wil use data from the Clouds and the EarthΓÇÖs Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument currently in flight on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and Terra satellites.
The color scales are measured in Watts per meter squared. Higher numbers represent greater amounts of radiation.
