The Sun: Source of the Earth's Energy

The Sun is the primary source of the Earth's energy. However, due to the complexity in the way the energy affects Earth, the various solar sources of the energy, and the variation exhibited by the Sun it is difficult to understand and predict the Earth's response to solar drivers. In addition to visible light the radiant energy of the Sun can exhibit variation in nearly all wavelengths, which can vary over nearly all timescales. Depending on the wavelength of the incident radiation the light can deposit energy in a wide variety of locations and drive processes from below Earth's surface to interplanetary space. Other sources of energy impacting Earth include energetic particles, magnetic fields, and mass and flow variations in the solar wind. Many of these variable energetic processes cannot be decoupled and recent results continue to demonstrate that the complex dynamics of the Sun can have a great range of measurable impacts on Earth.