Does the radiation from the Sun heat up Earth evenly all around the globe?
No. Sunlight shines more or less directly down to Earth at the equator but passes at an angle through the atmosphere toward the poles. This means that while the sun passes through about 50 miles of atmosphere at the equator, it passes through much more atmosphere in order to reach the more northern and southern latitudes. The result is that the ground is much warmer around the equator than at the poles. This differences in the temperatures causes air mass movement when warm tropical air rises and cooler northern latitude air sinks down to take its place. 16. Does all the sunlight energy that reaches Earth stay here? No. When sunlight falls on Earth a certain amount of it is reflected back into space. Of the sunlight falling on bare ground, 10-20 percent is reflected; a green forest reflects 3-10 percent; and fresh snow reflects 80-90 percent (this is why it remains so cold at the poles even though the sun shines for long periods). Perhaps 30 percent of all the sunlight reaching Earth f
