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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

Longwave

Thermal infrared radiation emitted by Earth’s surface and atmosphere. It generally has longer wavelengths than most incoming solar radiation. Greenhouse gases absorb and emit parts of this spectrum, influencing the rate at which energy escapes to space.

What to look for

NASA CERES, April 2015. Satellite observations map outgoing thermal radiation at the top of the atmosphere in W m⁻²; colder cloud tops generally emit less than warm clear-sky regions.

Related labs

Earth’s energy budget →
CERES global map of outgoing longwave radiation with a colour scale in watts per square metre.
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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.