Infra red and the Earth's atmosphere

The atmosphere of out planet not only prevents the escape off infrared radiation but also stops harmful ultra violet rays from reaching the planet's surface. Ultra violet radiation may give us a nice suntan but it is also responsible for skin cancer. The destruction of the ozone layer around the Earth that absorbs ultra violet is another major problem partly caused by the industrialised nations.

Solar radiation and reradiated radiation from the Earth

The following graph shows the incident and reradiated energy for the Earth.