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Diagram showing displacement of the Sun's image at sunrise and sunset Comparison of inferior and superior mirages due to differing air refractive indices, n. Atmospheric refraction is the deviation of light or other electromagnetic wave from a straight line as it passes through the atmosphere due to the variation in air density as a function of height. [1]
Incoming, top-of-atmosphere (TOA) shortwave flux radiation, shows energy received from the sun (Jan 26–27, 2012). Outgoing, longwave flux radiation at the top-of-atmosphere (Jan 26–27, 2012). Heat energy radiated from Earth (in watts per square meter) is shown in shades of yellow, red, blue and white.
The reddish color of the Sun when it is observed through a thick atmosphere, as during a sunrise or sunset. This is because long-wavelength (red) light is scattered less than blue light. The red light reaches the observer's eye, whereas the blue light is scattered out of the line of sight. Other colours in the sky, such as glowing skies at dusk ...
Green is the most common color for aurora and appears when charged particles collide with oxygen molecules up to 150 miles above the Earth's surface.
A schematic representation of a planet's radiation balance with its parent star and the rest of space. Thermal radiation absorbed and emitted by the idealized atmosphere can raise the equilibrium surface temperature. The temperatures of a planet's surface and atmosphere are governed by a delicate balancing of their energy flows.
According to the American National Center for Atmospheric Research, "The total mean mass of the atmosphere is 5.1480 × 10 18 kg with an annual range due to water vapor of 1.2 or 1.5 × 10 15 kg, depending on whether surface pressure or water vapor data are used; somewhat smaller than the previous estimate.
The optical atmospheric window is the optical portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that passes through the Earth's atmosphere, excluding its infrared part; [10] although, as mentioned before, the optical spectrum also includes the IR spectrum and thus the optical window could include the infrared window (8 – 14 μm), the latter is ...
A clear daytime sky, looking toward the zenith. Earth's atmosphere scatters short-wavelength light more efficiently than that of longer wavelengths. Because its wavelengths are shorter, blue light is more strongly scattered than the longer-wavelength lights, red or green.