English: This chart shows the intensity as a function of frequency for longwave (LW) radiation emitted by Earth’s surface (SLR) and outgoing LW radiation emitted to space (OLR). The difference between these, the intensity of radiation emitted by the surface but not reaching space, is referred to as the greenhouse effect (GHE).
The strength of the greenhouse effect varies with frequency (or wavelength). The greenhouse effect at different frequencies is associated with different greenhouse gases.
The particular version of the figure is base on modeling the propagation of longwave thermal radiation through Earth’s atmosphere. However, observation data looks quite similar.
Quantities
- The X-axis plots frequency divided by the speed of light, a quantity conventionally called “wavenumber.”
Similar figures
This work was inspired by similar figures such as these:
Similar observational data
Additional references
An early reference defining the GHE as surface longwave emissions minus outgoing longwave emissions was:
This definition is also alluded to in IPCC AR6 WG1 p. 968.
Credit
This is a derived word based on
File:Spectral OLR.png by
Lukas Kluft,
CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.