page_title: Anti-greenhouse effect
section_title: On Titan
hierarchical_section_title: Anti-greenhouse effect / On Titan
context_page_description: The anti-greenhouse effect is a mechanism similar to the greenhouse effect, but with the opposite consequence of cooling the surface temperature of a planet. If gases in the atmosphere of a planet have a lesser transmittance for inbound radiation than for outbound radiation, the surface temperature at which inbound and outbound heat fluxes are at equilibrium is lower.
context_section_description: The haze containing organic molecules in Titan's upper atmosphere absorbs 90% of the solar radiation reaching Titan, but is inefficient at trapping infrared radiation generated by the surface.  Although a large greenhouse effect does keep Titan at a much higher temperature than the thermal equilibrium, the anti-greenhouse effect due to the haze reduces the surface temperature by 9 K. Because greenhouse effect due to other atmospheric components increase it by 21 K, the net effect is that the real surface temperature of Titan (94 K) is 12 K warmer than the effective temperature 82 K (which would be the surface temperature in the absence of any atmosphere, assuming constant albedo).
caption: The "haze" on Titan
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