A simple computer model for terrestrial and solar radiation transfer

A simple radiative-convective atmospheric model is presented for rapidly computing the solar and terrestrial fluxes at the top of the atmosphere and at the ground. The model parameters are measurable meteorological quantities with water vapour playing a key role in the determination of the ratio of infrared flux emitted by a water surface to the absorbed solar flux; this infrared fraction is important in heat balance evaporation models. The model and its computer programme can be used to examine, for example, the response of the global mean surface temperature to changes in CO2, cloud cover and solar-constant. 22 figs., 2 tabs