Suki Manabe has pioneered the use of idealized models to obtain profound insights into critical physical processes in the climate system. Energy balance models have proven useful in understanding mechanisms and feedbacks in the climate system. An original global energy balance model is presented here. The model is solved numerically for equilibrium climate states defined by zonal average temperature as a function of latitude for both a surface and an atmospheric layer. The effects of radiative, latent, and sensible heating are parameterized. The model includes a variable lapse rate and parameterizations of the major dynamical mechanisms responsible for meridional heat transport: the Hadley cell, midlatitude baroclinic eddies, and ocean circulation. The model reproduces both the mean variation of temperature with latitude and the global average heat budget within the uncertainty of observations.

The utility of the model is demonstrated through examination of various climate feedbacks. One important feedback is the effect of the lapse rate on climate. When the planet warms as a result of an increase in the solar constant, the lapse rate acts as a negative feedback, effectively enhancing the longwave emission efficiency of the atmosphere. The lapse rate is also responsible for an increase in global average temperature when the meridional heat transport effectiveness is increased. The water vapor feedback enhances temperature changes, while the latent and sensible heating feedback reduce surface temperature changes.