English: Comparison of Earth's upward flow of infrared thermal radiation in reality and in a hypothetical scenario in which greenhouse gases and clouds are removed or lose their ability to absorb thermal radiation—without changing Earth's albedo (i.e., reflection/absorption of sunlight). Top shows the balance between Earth's heating and cooling as measured at the top of the atmosphere (TOA). Panel (a) shows the real situation with an active greenhouse effect. Panel (b) shows the situation immediately after absorption stops; all thermal radiation emitted by the surface would reach space; there would be more cooling (via thermal radiation emitted to space) than warming (from sunlight). This imbalance would lead to a rapid temperature drop. Panel (c) shows the final stable steady state, after the surface cools sufficiently to emit only enough thermal radiation to match the energy flow from absorbed sunlight. The amount of thermal radiation emitted by the surface depends on its temperature.

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All three panels correspond to the data output of the University of Chicago's RRTM Earth's Energy Budget online radiative transfer model.