Solar power arriving to earth from the sun (worldwide average)

Value 175 10^15 W (petaW)
Organism Biosphere
Reference Karl TR, Trenberth KE. Modern global climate change. Science. 2003 Dec 5 302(5651):1719-23.PubMed ID14657489
Method May be calculated by: Product of solar irradiance per m^2, 1366W/m^2 BNID 103709 and area of Earth's cross section, p×r^2, r˜6.4×10^6m. 1366W/m^2×p×(6.4×10^6m)^2=175.78×10^15W
Comments On average, the energy from the sun received at the top of the Earth's atmosphere amounts to 175 petawatts (PW) (or 175 quadrillion watts), of which ~31% is reflected by clouds and from the surface. The rest (120 PW) is absorbed by the atmosphere, land, or ocean and ultimately emitted back to space as infrared radiation (ref 1 in reference article). This is for based on solar constant outside to the atmosphere. This is four order of magnitude more than used by humainty, and three orders of magnitude than harvested by photosynthesis by the biosphere.
Entered by Ron Milo - Admin
ID 100943