In 2021, Syukuro Manabe and Klaus Hasselmann were awarded half of the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work in modeling Earth's climate and accurately predicting the global warming caused by human industrial activities. In this problem, we will examine a simple model of global warming due to the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse gases alter the optical properties of the Earth's atmosphere in transmitting or absorbing Earth's infrared radiation, resulting in a rise in the average temperature of the planet.
All objects, at different temperatures, emit thermal radiation. The quantity u(λ,T)dλ indicates the thermal radiative power per unit area of an object at temperature T between the wavelengths λ and λ+dλ. According to Planck's theory of blackbody radiation, we have
u(λ,T)=λ52πhc2exp(λkBThc)−11,(1)
in which hc=1.24×103eV⋅nm and kB=8.62×10−5eV/K. The wavelength corresponding to the maximum of u(λ,T) comes from the relation λmaxT=b (Wien's displacement law). Indeed, using equation (1), it can be shown that b=xmkBhc, where the dimensionless quantity xm is the non-trivial root of an equation of the form f(x)=0; you are asked to find the function f(x) in one of the following tasks. Total radiative power per unit area of a blackbody in all wavelengths is given by the Stephan-Boltzmann law as U(T)=σT4 where σ=5.67×10−8W/m2K4. Moreover, according to Kirchhoff's law of radiation, at thermal equilibrium a body absorbing a certain fraction of the incident radiation at a specific wavelength, will radiate the same fraction of the blackbody radiation at that same wavelength.
Throughout this problem assume that the Sun is a blackbody at its average surface temperature of TS=5.77×103K. The Sun's radius is RS=6.96×108m and the average distance between the Earth and the Sun is d=1.50×1011m. We denote by u~S(λ), the spectral solar power radiated into a unit area of the Earth normal to the direction of radiation. The integral of this quantity over all wavelengths, i.e. S0=∫u~S(λ)dλ, is called the solar constant.
In this problem assume that the Earth is in thermal equilibrium and has the same temperature at all points on its surface. In all parts of the problem, express the desired quantity in parametric form in terms of the data given in the problem and then find its numerical value accurate to three significant figures. The required units are indicated on the answer sheet.
A. Earth as a Blackbody
In this part, consider the Earth's surface as a blackbody and neglect the Earth's atmosphere.
In figure 1 the functions γu~S(λ) and u(λ,TE) are plotted versus λ, where γ is a dimensionless coefficient to rescale u~S(λ) such that the values of the two peaks coincide.
Figure 1 - The plot of u(λ,TE) (red) and γu~S(λ) (blue) versus λ
B. The Greenhouse Effect
In this part, we introduce a simple model in which the Earth's atmosphere is modeled as a thin layer at a small distance above the Earth's surface so that the difference between the area of the atmosphere's layer and the area of the Earth's surface can be neglected (see figure 2). In what follows assume that the major part of the thermal radiation from the Earth and the Sun are emitted at wavelengths near the λmax for each one. Also assume that the "atmosphere layer" reflects a fraction rA=0.255 of the visible-ultraviolet radiation incident from above or below, and completely transmits the rest. Assume that the atmosphere does not reflect any part of the infrared radiation, however, it absorbs a fraction ε of the infrared radiation and transmits the rest. This behavior, known as the greenhouse effect, changes the average temperature of the Earth. The Earth's surface, on the other hand, reflects a fraction rE of the visible-ultraviolet radiation and absorbs the rest of this radiation and all the infrared radiation.
Figure 2 - Thermal flows between the Earth and the atmosphere
Now assume that rE=0. In this case, the combined system of "Earth + atmosphere" reflects a different fraction of the solar radiation, called "albedo" and denoted by α.
Assume TA=245K and TE=288K. These values come from real data and may differ from the results which you have obtained in the previous tasks. Now suppose that a non-radiative (e. g. convective) thermal flow JNR=k(TE−TA) is maintained from the Earth to the atmosphere, where k is a constant. The quantity, JNR, is the transmitted power per unit area.
A-1 Find the solar constant, S0. [0,6 т.]
A-2 Find the Earth's temperature, TE. [0,6 т.]
A-3 Find the function f(x). [0,4 т.]
A-4 Calculate the numerical value of xm, and from this value xm, find the value of b. [0,4 т.]
A-5 Find λmax for the Sun and the Earth. [0,2 т.]
A-6 Determine γ. [0,8 т.]
B-1 Assume that ε=1 and rE=0, and calculate the Earth's temperature TE and the atmosphere's temperature TA. [1 т.]
B-2 Determine the albedo, α, in terms of rE and rA. Then calculate its numerical value assuming rE=0.102 (and rA=0.255). [1,6 т.]
B-3 a) Express the Earth's temperature in terms of σ, α, S0, and ε.
b) Using the given data and the calculated albedo, find the numerical value of ε which leads to the current average temperature of TE=288K for the Earth. [1 т.]
B-4 Find dεdTE and determine by how much the Earth's temperature increases if ε increases by one percent. [0,8 т.]
B-5 Calculate ε and k in terms of TE, TA, σ, α, and S0. [1,6 т.]
B-6 a) Differentiating the equations obtained in part B-5 with respect to ε, find the two algebraic equations satisfied by dεdTA and dεdTE.
b) Use these equations to find the numerical value of change in the Earth's temperature as a result of a one percent increase in the value of ε. [1 т.]
Решение
A. Earth as a blackbody
A-1. All the energy emitted from the surface of the Sun, will reach a sphere of radius d , therefore:
S0=σTS4.(dRS)2 , Numerical value of S0=1.35×103W/m2
A-2. It is assumed that the Earth is in thermal equilibrium. Therefore, the energy it receives per unit time should be equal to the energy it radiates per unit time. The Earth’s cross-section intercepting the solar radiation at this distance has an area of πRE2 , but the Earth radiates heat from all points on its surface with an area of 4πRE2, so:
πRE2.S0=4πRE2σTE4→TE=(4σS0)41=278K
A-2 (0.6 pt)
TE=(4σS0)41=2dRSTS , Numerical value of TE=278K
A-3. The radiation is maximum at the wavelength for which the derivative of u with respect to λ is zero:
xm={4.96,4.97} , Numerical value of b=[2.89,2.90]×106nm⋅K
A-5. Using Wien’s displacement law and the constant b obtained in the previous part, we can calculate the wavelength at which the radiation from the Sun and the Earth reaches its maximum:
γ=(RSd)2×(TSTE)5=(RSd)2×(λmaxEarthλmaxSun)5 , Numerical value of γ=[1.20,1.21]×10−2
B. The Greenhouse Effect
B-1. Both the Earth and its atmosphere are in thermal equilibrium, so one can write an equation that balances the input and output powers. For the Earth we have:
(πRE2)(1−rA)S0+(4πRE2)σTA4=(4πRE2)σTE4,
and for the atmosphere:
(4πRE2)σTE4=2(4πRE2)σTA4.
Note that the coefficient 2 on the right-hand side of the equation is due to the atmosphere radiating heat on both sides (above and below). Eliminating TE from the two relations we obtain:
TA=(σ(1−rA)4S0)41 , Numerical value of TA=2.58×102K
TE=(σ(1−rA)2S0)41 , Numerical value of TE=3.07×102K
B-2. As can be seen in the figure, a fraction (1−rA) of the solar radiation reaches the Earth’s surface after traversing the atmosphere. A fraction rE of this light is reflected back and reaches the atmosphere, where a fraction rA is reflected and returns to the Earth’s surface. This process repeats ad infinitum and the sum of the powers transmitted at all these instances, determines the albedo. Denoting the power returned to space after n reflections by S~n, we’ll have S~0=rAS0 and the remaining power i.e. (1−rA)S0 , reaches the Earth’s surface. From this power, (1−rA)rES0 is reflected, and a fraction 1−rA of it is transmitted through the atmosphere to the space, hence:
S~1=(1−rA)2rES0=rA(1−rA)2rES~0
The power that is reflected back to the Earth by the atmosphere after (n−1) reflections is S~n−1(1−rArA), of which a fraction rE is again sent back towards the atmosphere on the n’th reflection, and the atmosphere allows a fraction 1−rA of this reflected power to escape into the space, thus:
Dividing by the solar constant we get the value for albedo:
α=S0S~=rA+1−rArE(1−rA)2rE=3.13×10−1
B-2 (1.6 pt)
α=rA+1−rArE(1−rA)2rE , Numerical value of α=3.13×10−1
B-3. Again, thermal equilibrium requires the input and output powers to be equal both for the Earth and for the atmosphere, the only difference being that the Earth absorbs now a fraction 1−α of the Sun’s radiation. Thus, for Earth we have:
ϵ=σ(TE4−TA4)σTE4−(1−α)4S0 , Numerical value of ϵ=[8.47,8.52]×10−1
k=(TE4−TA4)×(TE−TA)(2TA4−TE4)×[σTE4−(1−α)4S0] , Numerical value of k=[3.57,3.66]×10−1W/m2K
B-6. In order to find the change in the temperatures of the Earth and the atmosphere in terms of ϵ and k, we take the logarithm of both sides of the relations before taking the derivative: