Atmospheric window

range of wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum that can pass through the earth's atmosphere

An atmospheric window is a part of the electromagnetic spectrum that can pass through the atmosphere of Earth. The optical, infrared and radio windows are the three basic atmospheric windows.[2] The Sun's electromagnetic energy reaches the Earth through the atmospheric windows. The Earth's thermal radiation leaves its atmosphere through the windows.[3] Atmospheric windows are useful for astronomy, remote sensing, telecommunications and other science and technology applications.

Τhe absorption bands of Earth's atmosphere (grey colour) delimit its atmospheric windows (middle panel) and the effect they have on both downgoing solar radiation and upgoing thermal radiation emitted near the surface is shown in the top panel. The individual absorption spectra of major greenhouse gases plus Rayleigh scattering are shown in the lower panel.[1]

In the study of the greenhouse effect, atmospheric window often means the infrared window, because the infrared window is the main exit for the thermal radiation emitted near the surface of the Earth.[4][5] In other fields of science and technology, such as radio astronomy[6] and remote sensing,[7] "atmospheric window" is used to describe windows of the whole electromagnetic spectrum.

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References change

  1. "The Atmospheric Window". National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
  2. "Introduction to the Electromagnetic Spectrum | Science Mission Directorate". science.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
  3. Kiehl, J. T.; Trenberth, Kevin E. (1 February 1997). "Earth's Annual Global Mean Energy Budget". Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 78 (2): 197–208. Bibcode:1997BAMS...78..197K. doi:10.1175/1520-0477(1997)078<0197:eagmeb>2.0.co;2.
  4. Cotton, William R.; Pielke, Roger A. (2007). Human impacts on weather and climate. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 180. ISBN 978-0-521-84086-6. OCLC 466742997.
  5. Rohli, Robert V; Vega, Anthony J (2012). Climatology. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning. p. 287. ISBN 978-0-7637-9101-8. OCLC 569552317.
  6. Burke, Bernard F. (2019). An introduction to radio astronomy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-107-18941-6. OCLC 1199628889.
  7. Joseph, George (2005). Fundamentals of remote sensing. Hyderabad: Universities Press, India. p. 43. ISBN 978-81-7371-535-8. OCLC 474734434.