• The largest pathway for heat exchange between the land or oceans and the atmosphere is latent heat transferred through phase changes; heat released or absorbed when water moves between solid, liquid, and vapor forms (see section 5.1). Heat must be added to liquid water to make it evaporate, and when water vapor is formed, that heat is removed from the ocean and transferred to the atmosphere along with the water vapor. When water vapor condenses into rain, that heat is then returned to the oceans. The same process happens with the formation and melting of ice. Heat is absorbed by ice when it melts, and heat is released when ice forms, and these phase changes transfer heat between the oceans and the atmosphere.
• To complete the heat budget, the heat that is absorbed by the atmosphere either directly from solar radiation or as a result of conduction, radiation and latent heat, is eventually radiated back into space