Climate Lab: Greenhouse Effect, Albedo, and Temperature
Adjust greenhouse gases, albedo, cloud cover, and solar input to compare absorbed sunlight, trapped infrared energy, and equilibrium temperature.
Environmental Science · Grade 11
Balance sunlight, reflection, and trapped heat
Adjust greenhouse gases, surface reflectivity, cloud cover, and solar input to compare absorbed sunlight, trapped infrared, and global temperature.
Pre-industrial baseline (CO₂ 280 ppm): load the preset and record temperature. This is your control trial.
Current atmosphere (CO₂ 420 ppm, CH₄ 1900 ppb): note how much forcing and temperature have changed from baseline.
Compensate: keep CO₂ at 420 ppm but raise albedo and cloud cover until temperature returns near baseline. What trade-offs emerge?
Near energy balance: absorbed solar ≈ outgoing IR. Temperature 15.2 °C. Forcing terms nearly cancel — small changes in GHGs tip the balance.
Lab task
Raise CO2, then adjust albedo or cloud cover until temperature returns near the starting value. Record both states and compare the forcing terms.
Observation rule
Climate temperature depends on energy balance: absorbed sunlight warms the surface, while albedo reflects sunlight and greenhouse gases reduce outgoing infrared loss.
What to prove in this lab
- Explain how greenhouse gas concentration changes outgoing infrared energy.
- Compare how albedo and cloud cover affect absorbed solar radiation.
- Use energy balance to predict whether surface temperature rises or falls.