Radiative cooling is the process by which a body loses heat by radiation. In the case of the earth-atmosphere system it refers to the process by which long-wave (infra red) radiation is emitted to balance the absorption of short-wave (visible) energy from the sun. The exact process by which the earth loses heat is rather more complex than often portrayed. In particular, convective transport of heat, and evaporative transport of latent heat are both important in removing heat from the surface and redistributing it in the atmosphere. Pure radiative transport is more important higher up. Diurnal and geographical variation further complicate the picture.