The net radiation at the top of the atmosphere is
where is the local albedo, the fraction of the incoming sunlight reflected to space; all three quantities are annual means at one latitude. A latitude where has a radiative surplus; one where has a radiative deficit.
示例
Example 27.7 (The reanalysis’s global budget)
Averaged over the globe, the reanalysis receives , reflects (an albedo of ), absorbs and emits : a net radiation of . The OLR is within of the assessed , but the reflection is larger than the assessed . A real imbalance of this size would cool the Earth by ; it is an error of the model, not a property of the Earth, and the transport below is computed after removing the global mean.