Dr Robert A Phillips thank you for your contribution to the discussion

Energy is transferred from the sun to Earth via electromagnetic waves, or radiation. Most of the energy that passes through the upper atmosphere and reaches Earth's surface is in two forms, visible and infrared light. The majority of this light is in the visible spectrum. The Sun generates energy deep in its core through nuclear fusion that burns Hydrogen into heavier atoms. As the atoms merge, energy is released, and begins the long journey toward the Sun's surface. Along the journey, energy is transferred via two of the the methods of heat transfer: convection and radiative transfer. It typically takes about 170,000 years for energy generated by fusion in the Sun's core to stagger its way to the Sun's surface. The sun generates energy from a process called nuclear fusion. During nuclear fusion, the high pressure and temperature in the sun's core cause nuclei to separate from their electrons. Hydrogen nuclei fuse to form one helium atom. During the fusion process, radiant energy is released. From the study it takes sunlight an average of 8 minutes and 20 seconds to travel from the Sun to the Earth. Sunlight travels at the speed of light. The Sun is 93 million miles away, so sunlight takes 8 and 1/3 minutes to get to us. Not much changes about the Sun in so short a time, but it still means that when you look at the Sun, you see it as it was 8 minutes ago. One one-billionth of the Sun's total energy output actually reaches the Earth. Of all the energy that does reach Earth, slightly less than 34 percent is reflected back to space by clouds. The Earth itself reflects another 66 percent back to space. The Earth absorbs most of the energy reaching its surface, a small fraction is reflected. In total approximately 70% of incoming radiation is absorbed by the atmosphere and the Earth's surface while around 30% is reflected back to space and does not heat the surface. With no sunlight, photosynthesis would stop, but that would only kill some of the plants—there are some larger trees that can survive for decades without it. Within a few days, however, the temperatures would begin to drop, and any humans left on the planet's surface would die soon after. Along the journey, energy is transferred via two of the methods of heat transfer: convection and radiative transfer. Since heat energy always flows from hot to cool regions, solar energy travels outward from the hot core and through to the cooler upper layers of the Sun. The energy travels through the radiative zone and the convective zones of the Sun, through other layers, all the way to the Sun's surface (photosphere), outward into space, eventually reaching Earth.Energy is transferred in the atmosphere, ocean, and Earth's interior system by three processes: convection, conduction, and radiation. These processes can all occur at the same time on either a small or large scale. There is also a strong coupling found between the atmosphere and ocean.