What do you mean with Earth’s Energy Budget? Earth’s energy budget is the input of sunlight that reaches the Earth. (It reaches the land, oceans, and the atmosphere.) Energy that leaves the Earth as heat. An accounting of how much energy enters the Earth’s climate system from the Sun, how much energy is lost to space and accounts for the remainder as stored on the Earth and its atmosphere.

Heating the atmosphere. The Sun is the heat source of our planet. Energy from the sun is transferred through space and through the Earth’s atmosphere to the Earth’s surface. Since this energy warms the Earth’s surface and atmosphere, some of it is or becomes heat energy. There are three ways heat is transferred into and through the atmosphere: Radiation Conduction Convection

Radiation Radiation is the transfer of heat energy through space by electromagnetic radiation. Most of the solar radiation is absorbed by the atmosphere and much of what reaches the earth’s surface is radiated back into the atmosphere to become heat energy.

Conduction Conduction is the transfer of heat from one substance to another or within a substance. This is due to transfer of heat energy from molecule to molecule or from atom to atom. Heat from the Earth’s core and radiation from the Sun is transferred to the surface of the Earth by conduction. Since air is a poor conductor, most energy transfer by conduction occurs right at the earth’s surface.

Convection Convection is the transfer of heat energy in a fluid. Air in the atmosphere acts as a fluid. The sun’s radiation strikes the ground, thus warming the rocks. As the rocks temperature rises due to conduction, heat energy is released into the atmosphere.

Energy Balance Earth’s energy balance describes how the incoming energy from the sun is used and returned to space. If incoming and outgoing energy are in balance, the earth’s temperature remains constant. Why are we concerned with energy balance? The energy that comes in and out of the earth should be balance because if we have them imbalance, then we get this overflow of heat or the Earth will heat.