The secret history of Earth's radiation budget

The modern history of reliable Earth radiation budgets starts with the satellite era, notably be the iconic KT97 energy flow distribution. One of the cornerstone greenhouse data (“Back Radiation”, 324 Wm^-2) was immediately challenged by Wild et al. (1998; 344 Wm^-2). After a short interlude (TFK 2009), the magnitudes occupied their positions as we know them today in 2012. One of the pivotal studies (Stephens et al. 2012) displays both clear-sky and all-sky data in the longwave part. Today, in possession of the governing relationships (four Schwarzschild-type radiative transfer constraint equations) and their solution (as small integer ratios), we are able to reconstruct some moments in their build-up. In that work, first the exact integer positions at top-of-atmosphere (TOA) for clear-sky and all-sky outgoing LW radiation (OLR) were established: using the defined value of “Longwave cloud effect” (26.7±4 Wm^-2) as the unit flux, “Clear-sky emission” was defined as 10 units (267.0 Wm^-2), and “Outgoing longwave radiation” as 9 units (240.3 Wm^-2). Then, a TOA imbalance of 0.6 Wm^-2 was introduced; and, a reduction in OLR by the value of TOA imbalance was applied, to have the displayed values of clear-sky OLR as 266.4 Wm^-2 and all-sky OLR as 239.7 Wm^-2. 

Wild (2020) implicitly contains the complete set of integer ratios, including the accurate albedo and greenhouse factor.

The same technique was used in the most recent comprehensive global energy budget depiction (Stephens et al. 2023, BAMS) based on 30 years of Gewex data. First, an accurate value for the longwave cloud radiative effect (LWCRE) was defined as 1 unit (26.682 Wm^-2), then the exact integer positions for “Outgoing LW” (9 units, 240.14 Wm^-2) and "Surface emission" (15 units, 400.24 Wm^-2) were determined. Introducing an EEI of 0.54±0.3 Wm^-2, a reduction in OLR and an increase in Surface emission by EEI was applied to get the displayed values of 239.5 Wm^-2 and 400.7 Wm^-2. TOA data were accurately tuned to the prescribed integer position of the albedo ("Reflected Solar"/"Incoming Solar" = 15/51 = 0.2941; 100.2/340.2 = 0.2945). Equation (3) [the all-sky version of the direct Schwarzschild-relationship Eq. (1), see Goody (1989), Stephens (1994) or Ramanathan (1995), for the net radiation at the surface R_N(clear) = OLR(clear)/2 in the form of R_N(all-sky) = (OLR(all-sky) – LWCRE)/2] is set to be valid with a difference of 0.1 Wm^-2. Even the components of the convective flux (Sensible heat and Evaporation) were placed into integer multiple positions separately (compare to the ±9 Wm^-2 noted ranges of uncertainty). Similarly, equation (4) for the total (SW+LW) absorbed radiation at the surface [which is the all-sky version of R_T(clear)=2OLR(clear)] is valid again with the same difference (0.1 Wm^-2). This required an accurate adjustment of its components. No reference to GHGs; the only numerical input parameter is Incoming Solar. This is our recent understanding of Earth's radiation budget.

The secret history of Earth radiation budget
Part 1: Data; Part 2: Theory

https://earthenergyflows.com/Secret_Data.mp4

https://earthenergyflows.com/Secret_Theory.mp4

https://ams.confex.com/ams/106ANNUAL/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/463675

AGU_GEWEX https://agu24.ipostersessions.com/default.aspx?s=26-E4-91-65-AE-83-5C-5E-2E-69-99-D2-1E-33-D1-A3&guestview=true

https://agu24.ipostersessions.com/default.aspx?s=68-C6-67-87-C2-9A-1F-66-64-57-17-86-DA-0F-9D-DC&guestview=true

https://agu25.ipostersessions.com/default.aspx?s=16-B9-40-EF-DB-A7-2A-53-AB-DC-27-A3-75-E9-A7-A3&guestview=true

https://agu25.ipostersessions.com/default.aspx?s=DE-FC-A0-F8-24-C6-C7-36-C9-6E-D9-82-42-3A-47-D1&guestview=true

https://ceres.larc.nasa.gov/documents/STM/2025-05/MP4files/30_Zagoni_EBAF-Thoery.mp4

https://earthenergyflows.com/Zagoni-EGU2024-Trenberths-Greenhouse-Geometry_Full-v03-480.mp4 (2:28:28)

https://ams.confex.com/ams/105ANNUAL/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/445222

https://ams.confex.com/ams/105ANNUAL/meetingapp.cgi/Paper/446389