<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Earth" class="extiw" title="en:Atmosphere of Earth">The atmosphere</a> radiates the equivalent of 59% of incoming <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sunlight" class="extiw" title="en:sunlight">sunlight</a> back to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/outer_space" class="extiw" title="en:outer space">space</a> as thermal <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/infrared" class="extiw" title="en:infrared">infrared</a> energy, or heat. Where does the atmosphere get its <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/energy" class="extiw" title="en:energy">energy</a>? The <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere" title="Atmosphere">atmosphere</a> directly absorbs about 23% of incoming sunlight, and the remaining energy is transferred from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth" class="extiw" title="en:Earth">Earth</a>’s surface by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/evaporation" class="extiw" title="en:evaporation">evaporation</a> (25%), <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_convection" class="extiw" title="en:Atmospheric convection">convection</a> (5%), and thermal infrared radiation (a net of 5-6%). The remaining <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_radiation" class="extiw" title="en:Thermal radiation">thermal</a> infrared energy from the surface (12%) passes through the atmosphere and escapes to space. (NASA illustration by Robert Simmon. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronaut" class="extiw" title="en:Astronaut">Astronaut</a> photograph ISS017-E-13859.) See also <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/EnergyBalance/page4.php">NASA Earth’s Energy Budget</a> and <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://science-edu.larc.nasa.gov/energy_budget/">The NASA Earth's Energy Budget Poster</a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_Earth_Observatory" class="extiw" title="en:NASA Earth Observatory">NASA Earth Observatory</a>
<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/EnergyBalance/page6.php">http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/EnergyBalance/page6.php</a>