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Concept
Atmospheric window
Summary
An atmospheric window is a range of wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum that can pass through the atmosphere of Earth. The optical, infrared and radio windows comprise the three main atmospheric windows. The windows provide direct channels for Earth's surface to receive electromagnetic energy from the Sun, and for thermal radiation from the surface to leave to space. Atmospheric windows are useful for astronomy, remote sensing, telecommunications and other science & technology applications.
In the study of the greenhouse effect, the term atmospheric window may be limited to mean the infrared window, which is the primary escape route for a fraction of the thermal radiation emitted near the surface. In other fields of science and technology, such as radio astronomy and remote sensing, the term is used as a hypernym, covering the whole electromagnetic spectrum as in the present article.
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.
Out of an average 340 watts per square meter (W/m2) of solar irradiance at the top of the atmosphere, about 200 W/m2 reaches the surface via windows, mostly the optical and infrared. Also, out of about 340 W/m2 of reflected shortwave (105 W/m2) plus outgoing longwave radiation (235 W/m2), 80-100 W/m2 exits to space through the infrared window depending on cloudiness. About 40 W/m2 of this transmitted amount is emitted by the surface, while most of the remainder comes from lower regions of the atmosphere. In a complimentary manner, the infrared window also transmits to the surface a portion of down-welling thermal radiation that is emitted within colder upper regions of the atmosphere.
The "window" concept is useful to provide qualitative insight into some important features of atmospheric radiation transport.
Official source
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