I put the question into the search engine:
"does radiant heat heat the air?"
And got a supposedly "AI generated" response, which personally I don't really believe. These AI's are mostly just auto-responders programmed by humans to spit out whatever they are programmed to spit out, but anyway...
OK, let's say that is observably true. There is no direct measurable with a thermometer temperature rise in the atmosphere when sunlight travels through it. But perhaps the air does absorb energy directly from radiant heat causing it to expand rather than heat up, which would not be detectable by a thermometer and since the atmosphere is unbounded changes in volume would be difficult if not impossible to measure and quantify.Generative AI is experimental. Learn more
No, radiant heat does not heat the air. Radiant heat works by transmitting infrared waves, which warm objects and surfaces directly without heating the air. Radiant heat is similar to the way the sun works, transmitting electromagnetic waves that are invisible to the human eye.
If the air were enclosed so it could not expand, perhaps then it WOULD heat up as sunlight passed through as the energy passing through would not be able to effect expansion.
Does ALL the warming of the atmosphere on a sunny day result exclusively from heating the ground, which then heats the air above it by conduction and convection? That seems unlikely.