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The higher energy (shortest wavelength) ranges of UV (called "vacuum UV") are absorbed by nitrogen and, at longer wavelengths, by simple diatomic oxygen in the air. Most of the UV in the mid-range of energy is blocked by the ozone layer, which absorbs strongly in the important 200–315 nm range, the lower energy part of which is too long for ...
Water vapor concentration for this gas mixture is 0.4%. Water vapor is a greenhouse gas in the Earth's atmosphere, responsible for 70% of the known absorption of incoming sunlight, particularly in the infrared region, and about 60% of the atmospheric absorption of thermal radiation by the Earth known as the greenhouse effect. [25]
Atmospheric windows, especially the optical and infrared, affect the distribution of energy flows and temperatures within Earth's energy balance.The windows are themselves dependent upon clouds, water vapor, trace greenhouse gases, and other components of the atmosphere.
The energy required for this is always larger than about 10 electron volt (eV) corresponding with wavelengths smaller than 124 nm (some sources suggest a more realistic cutoff of 33 eV, which is the energy required to ionize water). This high end of the ultraviolet spectrum with energies in the approximate ionization range, is sometimes called ...
The short wavelength boundary of the atmospheric IR window is set by absorption in the lowest frequency vibrational bands of water vapor. There is a strong band of ozone at 9.6 μm in the middle of the window which is why it acts as such a strong greenhouse gas.
By recording the attenuation of light for various wavelengths, an absorption spectrum can be obtained. In physics, absorption of electromagnetic radiation is how matter (typically electrons bound in atoms) takes up a photon's energy—and so transforms electromagnetic energy into internal energy of the absorber (for example, thermal energy). [1]
Water vapor absorbing these wavelengths of IR energy is mainly attributed to water being a polar molecule. Water's polarity allows it to absorb and release radiation at far, near and mid-infrared wavelengths. [6] The polarity also largely impacts how water interacts with nature, for it allows complexes of water, such as the water dimer. [6]
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 ...