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The global energy balance is important for Earth's climate. When visible radiation from the Sun reaches the Earth, some of it is reflected or scattered directly back into space as shortwave radiation (the percent reflected is known as albedo) and some of it is absorbed. In the absence of clouds, absorption happens mainly at the surface. The absorbed energy warms the Earth's surface, which, in turn, emits this energy at a longer wavelength (infrared rather than visible light).

The purpose of this assignment is to get you thinking about the Earth's radiation budget and the sorts of phenomena which may influence that budget. The description of the datasets is taken from a class taught by Schlosser, Pfirman and Ting at Columbia University.