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This integrated solar irradiance is called solar irradiation, solar radiation, solar exposure, solar insolation, or insolation. Irradiance may be measured in space or at the Earth's surface after atmospheric absorption and scattering. Irradiance in space is a function of distance from the Sun, the solar cycle, and cross-cycle changes. [2]
The global irradiance on a horizontal surface on Earth consists of the direct irradiance E e,dir and diffuse irradiance E e,diff. On a tilted plane, there is another irradiance component, E e,refl, which is the component that is reflected from the ground. The average ground reflection is about 20% of the global irradiance.
Direct insolation is equal to the solar irradiance above the atmosphere minus the atmospheric losses due to absorption and scattering. While the solar irradiance above the atmosphere varies with the Earth–Sun distance and solar cycles , the losses depend on the time of day (length of light's path through the atmosphere depending on the solar ...
Solar irradiance spectrum above atmosphere and at surface. The overall intensity of solar radiation is like that of a black body radiator of the same size at about 5,800 K. [1] As it passes through the atmosphere, sunlight is attenuated by scattering and absorption; the more atmosphere through which it passes, the greater the attenuation.
The finding that solar activity was approximately the same in cycles 14 and 24 applies to all solar outputs that have, in the past, been proposed as a potential cause of terrestrial climate change and includes total solar irradiance, cosmic ray fluxes, spectral UV irradiance, solar wind speed and/or density, heliospheric magnetic field and its ...
Its distance to the Sun varies annually between 147.1·10 6 km at perihelion and 152.1·10 6 km at aphelion. In addition, several long term (tens to hundreds of millennia) cycles of subtle variation in the Earth's orbit (Milankovich cycles) affect the solar irradiance and insolation (but not the solar constant).
The intensity of albedo temperature effects depends on the amount of albedo and the level of local insolation (solar irradiance); high albedo areas in the Arctic and Antarctic regions are cold due to low insolation, whereas areas such as the Sahara Desert, which also have a relatively high albedo, will be hotter due to high insolation.
It may be broadly defined to include all radiation with a wavelength of 0.1μm and 5.0μm or narrowly defined so as to include only radiation between 0.2μm and 3.0μm. There is little radiation flux (in terms of W/m 2 ) to the Earth's surface below 0.2μm or above 3.0μm, although photon flux remains significant as far as 6.0μm, compared to ...