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Geolens

Glossary

417 words used in the labs.

Find a term from the labs, understand the process behind it, and see how it appears in the landscape. Each entry connects an explanation with a real observation and a model you can explore.

Term

Absorption

The transfer of radiation into a material, increasing its internal energy. Dark ground often absorbs more sunlight than bright snow. Absorption differs from reflection, which sends radiation away, and transmission, which lets it pass through.

What to look for

This CERES observation maps reflected sunlight. Solar absorption by the Earth system is the incoming shortwave energy minus this reflected component; the image measures reflection rather than absorption directly.

Related labs

Earth’s energy budget →
NASA CERES map of reflected shortwave radiation averaged over 2000–2015, with a 0–385 W m⁻² colour scale.
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Explore further with USGS water glossary · USGS volcano glossary · NPS glacial geology · NASA Earth facts. Photograph acknowledgements are collected on the Image credits page.