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Earth’s Energy Budget

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  • The earth works in an equilibrium. It strives to maintain an overall budget between the overall amount of incoming and outgoing energy at the top of the atmosphere.

  • Earth receives incoming energy from the Sun. Earth also emits energy back to space. For Earth’s temperature to be stable over long periods of time (for the energy budget to be in balance), the amount of incoming energy and outgoing energy must be equal.

  • If incoming energy is more than outgoing energy, Earth will warm. If outgoing energy is greater than incoming energy, Earth will cool.

(Source: NASA)

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