How the suns energy travels through the atmosphere

When the Sun's energy moves through space, it reaches Earth's atmosphere and finally the surface. This radiant solar energy warms the atmosphere and becomes heat energy. This heat energy is transferred throughout the planet's systems in three ways: by radiation, conduction, and convection.

Most of the energy that reaches the Earth's surface comes from the Sun (Figure below). About 44% of solar radiation is in the visible light wavelengths, but the Sun also emits infrared, ultraviolet, and other wavelengths. When viewed together, all of the wavelengths of visible light appear white. But a prism or water droplets can break the white light into different wavelengths so that separate colors appear. A prism breaks apart white light. Of the solar energy that reaches the outer atmosphere, UV wavelengths have the greatest energy. Only about 7% of solar radiation is in the UV wavelengths. The three types are:

UVC: the highest energy ultraviolet, does not reach the planet's surface at all. UVB: the second highest energy, is also mostly stopped in the atmosphere.

UVA: the lowest energy, travels through the atmosphere to the ground.

The remaining solar radiation is the longest wavelength, infrared. Most objects radiate infrared energy, which we feel as heat (Figure below).