Greenhouse Effect and Earth's Energy Balance - Lecture 6

Explore the Earth's heat budget and greenhouse effect in this 50-minute lecture from Yale University's "The Atmosphere, the Ocean and Environmental Change" course. Derive a simple model of Earth's energy balance, assuming equilibrium between incoming solar radiation and outgoing infrared radiation. Calculate the Earth's surface temperature using this model and understand why it differs from reality due to the absence of atmospheric and greenhouse effects. Examine black body radiation, Wien's Law, and the Stefan-Boltzmann Law. Investigate infrared emission, equilibrium calculations of Earth's energy budget, and the greenhouse effect in Earth's atmosphere. Compare energy budgets for other planets and learn what constitutes a greenhouse gas. Access complete course materials on the Open Yale Courses website for this Fall 2011 recording.