NASA | Striking a Solar Balance

The video discusses the sun's crucial role in Earth's climate, highlighting how it provides energy that supports life and drives weather patterns. NASA's research over three decades has focused on understanding the sun's impact on Earth, including the balance of incoming solar and outgoing thermal energy. Human activities, such as burning fossil fuels, have disrupted this balance, leading to climate change. The video also covers NASA's missions, like the Total Irradiance Monitor and the Glory mission, which aim to study solar irradiance and aerosols to better understand climate dynamics.

What is one of the key roles of the sun in relation to Earth?

• It radiates electromagnetic energy that supports life.

• It provides oxygen for breathing.

• It creates new landforms.

• It absorbs Earth's outgoing heat.

What percentage of incoming solar power is absorbed by Earth's land, ocean, and atmosphere?

• 90%

• 70%

• 50%

• 30%

How do greenhouse gases affect Earth's energy balance?

• They block Earth's outgoing heat, causing an imbalance.

• They have no effect on Earth's energy balance.

• They reflect more solar energy back into space.

• They increase the amount of solar energy reaching Earth.

What is the primary external influence on Earth's climate?

• Ocean currents

• The sun

• Volcanic eruptions

• Human activities

What is the purpose of NASA's Glory mission?

• To explore Mars

• To collect data on aerosols and solar irradiance

• To study the moon's surface

• To measure the Earth's magnetic field