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The atmosphere is actually heated by the earth, not by the sun directly. Visible light passes through the atmosphere and strikes the surface of the earth, and thus warms the surface layer of the earth. The atmosphere is mostly transparent to visible light, meaning the light does not absorb visible light, and is therefore not heated by visible light.

As the surface of the earth warms up, it radiates low intensity infrared radiation, which is not transparent to the atmosphere, and so the atmosphere absorbs the infrared radiation, and warms up. The air closest to the surface of the earth absorbs most of the infrared radiation, and is therefore warmer than air at a higher altitude.

In fact, above about 10 km, the temperature starts to increase again due to the presence of the ozone layer. This absorbs solar ultraviolet radiation which leads to heating.

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