<p>Assuming your question is about how much of the sun's radiation hits the Earth's surface rather than just reaching the edge of the atmosphere ...</p>

<p>The amount of solar radiation that hit's the Earth's surface varies a <strong>lot</strong>, depending on weather conditions, time of day, day of the year, latitude, altitude, air quality ... It can be anywhere between 0 and ~$1200W/m^2$</p>

<p>There is a standard "full sun" solar intensity which is used as a benchmark for things like photovoltaics testing and calibration. That's $1000W/m^2$, with an atmospheric spectrum denoted by AM1.5</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-21T12:20:08.327Z
2016-04-21T12:20:08.327Z
410 gone
<p>Heat Flux from the earth is about 47 TW  +/- 2 TW</p>

<p>Davies,J.H.,Davies,D.R.,2010.Earth’s surface heat flux.Solid Earth 1,5‐24.</p>

<p>A very detailed breakdown of the origin of the heat flux is in this paper. <a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/1111.6099" rel="nofollow">http://arxiv.org/abs/1111.6099</a></p>

<p>There is a discrepancy of about 20 TW that can't be completely explained by known or legacy heat sources within the earth. My father and I suggest in our book Terrestrial Nuclear Processes <a href="http://www.createspace.com/3823397" rel="nofollow">http://www.createspace.com/3823397</a> the discrepancy is possibly explained by low energy nuclear reactions in the crust and upper mantle.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-22T21:35:00.303Z
2016-04-25T15:29:46.427Z
2016-04-25T15:29:46.427Z
Michael Wallace
<p>I wanted to know <b> what's is the intensity of terrestrial radiation?</b> I mean the long wave radiation emitted by Earth &amp; its atmosphere. As, I was differentiating between solar radiation and terrestrial radiation and intensity is the major thing to know when differentiating between these.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-21T12:02:07.790Z
Hello, and welcome to Stack Exchange. Are you asking for a definition of the term, or an actual value (I'm sure in real life it varies drastically)?
Daniel Griscom
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-21T12:17:22.530Z
Do you mean the radiation (e.g. infrared) from the earth into the space?
daniel.heydebreck
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-21T13:25:56.370Z
It always starts with xkcd: https://xkcd.com/radiation/
Jan Doggen
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-21T14:21:21.200Z
Please clarify what you mean by terrestrial radiation. The NRC, in the USA, defines it as natural background radiation emitted by radioactive materials such as thorium, uranium & radon (ie ionizing radiation). But another source defined it as long wave radiation emitted by the Earth & its atmosphere, which is totally different to shortwave ionizing radiation.
Fred
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-21T14:26:56.633Z
The long wave radiation emitted by Earth & its atmosphere.
MrV
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-22T00:51:37.037Z
Wouldn't this be equal to the heat generated within the earth? Assuming you don't mean energy absorbed and re-emitted from solar radiation (possibly at different wavelengths). With conservation of energy, the terrestrial radiation will be equal to the generation.
haresfur
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-22T13:12:52.897Z
The edit that user Michael made to clarify the question may have clarified it incorrectly, since the meaning that they have given it is different to the meaning that the asker confirmed was correct in their comment on EnergyNumbers's answer. IMHO this was an edit that changed the meaning of a question (or added a clear meaning when one was missing) by somebody other than the asker, and should not have been made.
Semidiurnal Simon
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-22T14:57:14.903Z
@SimonW Since then, VaibhavTech has deleted the comment confirming the question was about incoming shortwave radiation, so now I'm confused.  VaibhavTech, has your question been answered or not?
gerrit
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-22T15:25:03.893Z
Averaged over the entire Earth and over the course of decades, the energy the Earth and its atmosphere emit as long wave radiation is nearly equal to the energy the Earth and its atmosphere absorb via sunlight. They aren't quite equal right now; this difference is called global warming.
David Hammen
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-04-22T15:48:28.097Z
@gerrit I'm confused. Really. But, my question is the correct. Anyone can answer it.
MrV
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-05-08T09:11:39.333Z
Possible duplicate of [Does earth itself emit electromagnetic waves?](http://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/4947/does-earth-itself-emit-electromagnetic-waves)
Jan Doggen
<atmospheric-radiation>
What is the intensity of terrestrial radiation?
MrV
# What is the intensity of terrestrial radiation?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-04-21)

I wanted to know  **what's is the intensity of terrestrial radiation?** I mean the long wave radiation emitted by Earth & its atmosphere. As, I was differentiating between solar radiation and terrestrial radiation and intensity is the major thing to know when differentiating between these.

**Tags:** atmospheric-radiation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Hello, and welcome to Stack Exchange. Are you asking for a definition of the term, or an actual value (I'm sure in real life it varies drastically)?  
> **username_2**: Do you mean the radiation (e.g. infrared) from the earth into the space?  
> **username_3**: It always starts with xkcd: https://xkcd.com/radiation/  
> **username_4**: Please clarify what you mean by terrestrial radiation. The NRC, in the USA, defines it as natural background radiation emitted by radioactive materials such as thorium, uranium & radon (ie ionizing radiation). But another source defined it as long wave radiation emitted by the Earth & its atmosphere, which is totally different to shortwave ionizing radiation.  
> **username_0**: The long wave radiation emitted by Earth & its atmosphere.  
> **username_5**: Wouldn't this be equal to the heat generated within the earth? Assuming you don't mean energy absorbed and re-emitted from solar radiation (possibly at different wavelengths). With conservation of energy, the terrestrial radiation will be equal to the generation.  
> **username_6**: The edit that user username_10 made to clarify the question may have clarified it incorrectly, since the meaning that they have given it is different to the meaning that the asker confirmed was correct in their comment on EnergyNumbers's answer. IMHO this was an edit that changed the meaning of a question (or added a clear meaning when one was missing) by somebody other than the asker, and should not have been made.  
> **username_7**: @SimonW Since then, VaibhavTech has deleted the comment confirming the question was about incoming shortwave radiation, so now I'm confused.  VaibhavTech, has your question been answered or not?  
> **username_8**: Averaged over the entire Earth and over the course of decades, the energy the Earth and its atmosphere emit as long wave radiation is nearly equal to the energy the Earth and its atmosphere absorb via sunlight. They aren't quite equal right now; this difference is called global warming.  
> **username_0**: @username_7 I'm confused. Really. But, my question is the correct. Anyone can answer it.  
> **username_3**: Possible duplicate of [Does earth itself emit electromagnetic waves?](http://earthscience.stackexchange.com/questions/4947/does-earth-itself-emit-electromagnetic-waves)  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_9 on 2016-04-21. Score: 2

Assuming your question is about how much of the sun's radiation hits the Earth's surface rather than just reaching the edge of the atmosphere ...

The amount of solar radiation that hit's the Earth's surface varies a **lot**, depending on weather conditions, time of day, day of the year, latitude, altitude, air quality ... It can be anywhere between 0 and ~$1200W/m^2$

There is a standard "full sun" solar intensity which is used as a benchmark for things like photovoltaics testing and calibration. That's $1000W/m^2$, with an atmospheric spectrum denoted by AM1.5


---

### Answer by username_10 on 2016-04-22. Score: 1

Heat Flux from the earth is about 47 TW +/- 2 TW

Davies,J.H.,Davies,D.R.,2010.Earth’s surface heat flux.Solid Earth 1,5‐24.

A very detailed breakdown of the origin of the heat flux is in this paper. <http://arxiv.org/abs/1111.6099>

There is a discrepancy of about 20 TW that can't be completely explained by known or legacy heat sources within the earth. My father and I suggest in our book Terrestrial Nuclear Processes <http://www.createspace.com/3823397> the discrepancy is possibly explained by low energy nuclear reactions in the crust and upper mantle.


---

