how does the sun's energy travel to the earth?
1 In the climate system these forms of heat transfer are manifested in the motion of the atmosphere and ocean, on both local and global scales.  Radiation: The transfer of energy through electromagnetic waves. This form of energy transfer does not require the presence of matter to occur. In this form energy can travel through empty space from the Sun to the Earth and other planets in the solar system. Radiation also occurs within the climate system between the earth's surface and the atmosphere, and within the atmosphere and ocean.