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Greenhouse Effect: The Planet Where Heat Lingers

Follow sunlight in and infrared out of a one-layer Earth, slide albedo and greenhouse strength, and watch the balance temperature settle from a frozen -18C to a livable 15C and beyond.

Prologue · 1/5

Sunlight arrives

The yellow flow is the light energy pouring from the Sun to the Earth. Look closely and some of it is bounced back to space by clouds and ice — that bounced-back fraction is the albedo. The energy entering the Earth is “light that arrived − light bounced back.” Use the slider to make the Earth whiter or blacker and watch the change in how much enters.

Move the albedo and watch the amount of light bounced back and the change in surface temperature.

Albedo 30% — reflection by clouds, ice, and surface

T_s=T_e·(2/(2−ε))^¼=14.9°C

Radiation Budgetα 30% · ε 0.78

Surface temp14.9°C

Without atmosphere-18.6°C

Blanket effect+33.5°C