Solar Radiant Energy and its Modification by the Earth and its Atmosphere

Abstract

The sun is the principal source of the energy which, by devious means, becomes the internal, potential, and kinetic energy of the atmosphere. The solar irradiation of a unit horizontal surface at the outer limits of the earth’s atmosphere can be evaluated, at least in relative units, from astronomical and trigonometrical considerations [61]; thus on a relative scale, the diurnal and seasonal variations of this solar irradiation above the atmosphere are known. On the average, variations similar to these occur also at the earth’s surface, and the associated diurnal and seasonal changes in atmospheric temperature are commonplace knowledge [52].