PHYS4652 Planetary Science

Lecture 3: Solar Heating and

Energy Transport

LEE Man Hoi

 1. Laws of Thermodynamics
• In thermodynamics, a closed system can exchange
energy but not mass, with its surroundings.
• Zeroth Law: If two systems are both in thermal
equilibrium with a third system, they are in thermal
equilibrium with each other.
• First Law: Energy is conserved.
dQ = dU + PdV
where dQ is the amount of heat absorbed by the
system from its surroundings, dU the change in
internal energy, and PdV the work done by the
system on its surroundings.
• Second Law: The entropy of any closed system
increases with time.
DS > 0
• Third Law: The entropy of a system approaches a
constant value as the temperature approaches
absolute zero.
 2. Energy Balance and Temperature

• Temperature is one of the most fundamental

properties of planetary matter.
• Temperature T : Measure of random kinetic energy of
molecules, atoms, ions, etc.
• For “monatomic ideal gas”
– Energy E = 3/2 N k T where N = number of particles
and k = Boltzmann’s constant.
– Average speed of particles 1/2 mv2 = 3/2 kT.
• Planetary bodies
– are heated primarily by absorbing solar radiation.
– cool by emitting radiation.
• For most planetary bodies, emission ≈ absorption
over long term.
• Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune emit more energy than
received from Sun: Internal heat sources.
• Earth also has internal heat source.
• Spatial and temporal fluctuations can be large
(day/night, summer/winter, etc.).
 Electromagnetic Radiation
• Consists of photons at many wavelengths.
• Travels through vacuum at the speed of light
c = 2.998 x 1010 cm s-1 ≈ 300,000 km s-1
• Frequency n and wavelength l related by ln = c
 Specific Intensity

Note that solid angle is the angular part of the volume element in spherical coordinates:
dV = r2 sinq dq df dr = r2 dr dW
 and dµ = - sinq dq.
Mean Intensity
 Blackbody Radiation
• All objects with T > 0 K emit radiation.
• Blackbody: an idealized object that absorbs all incident
radiation, at all frequencies and all angles of incidence.
• A perfect absorber is also a perfect emitter.
 Planck’s
Law:

Rayleigh-Jeans Law:

Wien Law:
Wien displacement Law:

Stefan-Boltzmann Law:
• Sun’s surface temperature is about 5770 K and its
emission peaks in visible light (500 nm=0.5 micron).
• Earth’s average surface temperature is 288 K and its
emission peaks in infrared (10 micron).
 Temperature

• Most bodies are not perfect blackbodies.

• Brightness Temperature Tb: Temperature of
blackbody with same brightness as object at the
observed frequency.
• Effective Temperature Te: Temperature of blackbody
emitting the same amount of energy as object
F = s Te4.
 Albedos

Bond Albedo

Phase Angle

Geometric Albedo
 Equilibrium Temperature

Equilibrium Temperature
Exercise:
• What is Teq of Earth at r = 1 AU = 1.496 × 1013 cm with
Ab = 0.29, R☉ = 6.96 × 1010 cm and T☉ = 5770 K?
• What is Teq of Venus at r = 0.723 AU with Ab = 0.75?
• For Earth, equilibrium temperature Teq = 255 K but
observed Earth’s mean surface temperature is 288 K
(and water is liquid!).
• Teq = 227 K << mean surface temperature of 733K for
Venus!
• Why? Greenhouse effect.

• If temperature of body is completely determined by

incident solar flux, Teff = Teq.
• For Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune, Teff > Teq: internal
heat sources.
 3. Energy Transport

• Principle energy transport mechanisms: conduction,

radiation and convection.
• Conduction usually dominates in solid.
• Radiation usually dominates in space and tenuous
gas.
• Convection important in fluids and dense gases.
 Radiation

• In free space, conservation of energy means that

specific intensity is constant along a ray:
In = constant or dIn /ds = 0
where ds is a differential element of length along the
ray.
• Energy may be added or subtracted from a ray by
emission, absorption or scattering if a ray passes
through matter.
Einstein’s A and B coefficients

Paschen Series
Balmer Series

Lyman Series
Equation of Radiative Transfer in an atmosphere

optical depth

source function
local thermodynamic equilibrium

(Kirchhoff’s Law).
Conduction
Thermal diffusion equation:
 Local noon: 0 hr
Local midnight: 12 hr
Mercury
 Local noon: 0 hr
Local midnight: 12 hr

Rocky planet at 0.4 AU

 Convection
• Consider a parcel of air
in a planet’s atmosphere
slightly warmer than it’s
surroundings.
• Parcel expands,
becomes less dense,
and rises.
• With surrounding air
pressure decreasing with
height, rising parcel
expands and cools.
• If rising air parcel remains warmer than surroundings,
less dense, tend to rise, and unstable: convection.
• If rising air parcel is colder than surroundings, more
dense, tend to sink, and stable: no convection.

Convection No Convection
Hydrostatic Equilibrium

P+DP
z+Dz
r
P
z
First Law of Thermodynamics
Adiabatic Lapse Rate

dry adiabatic lapse rate:

• g = 5/3, 7/5 and 4/3 for monatomic, diatomic and
polyatomic gases.
• Dry adiabatic lapse rate ≈ 10 K km-1 on Earth.
• Adiabatic lapse rate modified by latent heat of
condensation for moist atmosphere.
• Atmosphere is convectively unstable if temperature
gradient or environmental lapse rate is
superadiabatic (larger than the adiabatic lapse rate).
• Convection is very efficient at transporting energy,
and environmental lapse rate is close to the adiabatic
one if convection is the dominant energy transport
mechanism.
 4. Greenhouse Effect: Atmosphere
Heated from Below
• Atmosphere is quite transparent in the visible and
transmits solar radiation to heat surface.
• Molecules such as CO2, H2O and CH4 in the
atmosphere selectively absorbs infrared radiation
from planet’s surface.
Absorption in Earth’s atmosphere
• Energy is trapped in atmosphere and heats it and the
surface below.
 A Simple Greenhouse Model
• Let us represent the atmosphere by a single layer of
temperature Ta that is completely transparent to
incoming solar radiation and completely opaque to IR
radiation from the surface.
• The planetary surface is at temperature Tg.
• This simple greenhouse model correspond to an
atmosphere with optical depth to the ground tg ~ 1.
• For Earth, it gives Tg = 303 K, which is larger than the
observed mean surface temperature of 288 K. The
Earth has tg < 1, and the simple model can be
modified to permit partial transmission of IR radiation
through the atmosphere --- a leaky greenhouse
model.
• For Venus, this simple greenhouse model gives Tg =
270 K, which is much smaller than the observed
mean surface temperature of 733 K. Venus has tg >>
1, and the atmosphere can be represented by
multiple layers, each of which completely absorbs IR
radiation impinging on it.
 Radiative Equilibrium in an
Atmosphere
• Energy transport in a planet’s atmosphere above the
tropopause is usually dominated by radiation.
• Atmosphere in radiative equilibrium if total flux F =
∫Fn dn is independent of height: dF / dz = 0.
• We assume monochromatic radiative equilibrium: dFn
/ dz = 0.
 radiative diffusion equation:

Rosseland mean absorption coefficient

By using the so-called Two-stream approximation,
Lissauer & de Pater show in Section 4.6.2 that
• Assumption of radiative equilibrium may produce
superadiabatic lapse rates. In such cases, convection
develops and drives atmospheric structure to near an
adiabat.
• Radiative-convective equilibrium: convective layer
supplies same amount of upward radiative flux, while
temperature structure in convective layer follows an
adiabat.