 Zero-dimensional planetary energy balance

Consider an idealized planet that is a sphere of radius $R$, illuminated by parallel sunlight of irradiance $S$, measured on a plane perpendicular to the rays. Its intercepting projected area is $\pi R^2$, whereas its total surface area is $4\pi R^2$. Therefore the incoming power averaged per unit total surface area iswhere $\alpha$ is the broadband Bond albedo. The factor four is a sphere geometry result, not an atmospheric transmission factor. Local sunlight still varies over the illuminated hemisphere and vanishes on the dark side.

Now stipulate a single spatially uniform temperature $T$, no atmosphere, no internal heating, and emissivity one for outgoing thermal radiation. This is a thermal blackbody model using the Stefan–Boltzmann law; the prescribed solar-band reflection is treated separately, so the body is not a perfect absorber at all wavelengths. Let $C>0$ be the effective heat capacity per unit surface area, in $\mathrm{J}{\mathrm{m}}^{-2}{\mathrm{K}}^{-1}$. Conservation of energy gives the ordinary differential equationHere $F$ is net heating per unit surface area, in $\mathrm{W}{\mathrm{m}}^{-2}$, and $\sigma$ is the Stefan-Boltzmann constant. Use $\sigma =5.670374419\times 10^{-8}\mathrm{W}{\mathrm{m}}^{-2}{\mathrm{K}}^{-4}$, rounded from the exact constant reported by NIST. ^[ref] The uniform temperature is a model assumption: generally the surface average of $T^4$ differs from the fourth power of the surface-average temperature.

For fixed Bond albedo $\alpha$, radiative equilibrium requires $F(T_{\ast })=0$, givingWith the illustrative solar constant $S=1360\mathrm{W}{\mathrm{m}}^{-2}$, the global incoming average is $340\mathrm{W}{\mathrm{m}}^{-2}$:

Doubling albedo here lowers the equilibrium temperature by $33.231\mathrm{K}$, rather than halving it: the absorbed fraction changes from $0.7$ to $0.4$, and thermal radiation scales as $T^4$. These stipulated Bond albedos are whole-planet examples, not measurements of bare water and ice. The model predicts neither Earth's modern surface temperature nor its response to actual climate change; it omits the greenhouse effect, spatial heat transfer and seasons.

Each fixed-albedo equilibrium is a stable equilibrium: for $T_{\ast }>0$, the derivative is $F^{\prime }(T_{\ast })=-4\sigma T_{\ast }^3<0$. A small temperature increase produces net cooling, and a small decrease produces net heating. This is the simplest expression of the stabilizing Planck feedback. Allowing albedo to fall with temperature adds a competing term, as in ice-ocean albedo feedback.