The greenhouse effect is the warming of the planet that results from the radiative properties of the atmosphere. Use the interactive simple climate model on this page to answer the following questions. If you do not understand the terms used in the question, you might need to go to the alcove entrance and review previous material.
Some definitions are also available for quick review.
Instructions on what you can vary in the model are given below. Explain why changing the planet's albedo modifies the planet's surface temperature. The atmospheric emissivity is the ratio of the radiant energy emitted per unit time per unit area by the atmosphere to the energy emitted by an ideal blackbody at the same temperature. As you vary these parameters the emission temperature of the planet and the temperatures of the surface and atmosphere change. All temperatures are plotted on a graph as a function of altitude.