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The Sun Accounts For The Earth 's Energy

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The Sun accounts for the entirety of Earth’s energy. While the sun is the driving force of all living organisms on Earth, this energy must be balanced in order for the Earth to maintain a constant global temperature. The Earth distributes this energy through oceanic and atmospheric circulation. This distribution of energy determines the location of biomes throughout the world. These two circulation processes also affect air pressure gradients in tropical parts of the world. They are also responsible for weather phenomenon’s like El Niño.
As shortwave radiation from the sun reaches the Earth, about eighteen percent of this radiation is absorbed into the atmosphere. The remaining energy is reflected back or absorbed by the Earth. This reflection is known as albedo. Objects with a higher reflectivity have a higher albedo and vice versa. Similar to the sun, the Earth and its atmosphere also emit radiation. Because the Earth is much cooler than the sun, this radiation is in the form of longwave radiation (Nature of Radiation Lecture). Although, not all of this radiation exits the Earth’s atmosphere, some of this radiation is absorbed back into the Earth. This is known as the greenhouse effect. Greenhouse gasses absorb radiation. This radiation is emitted by greenhouse gasses and absorbed into the Earth, which in turn, heats up the surface of the Earth. By increasing the amount of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, the temperature will continue to rise. In the polar regions of

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