Earth's Energy Imbalance More Than Doubled in Recent Decades
Thorsten Mauritsen, Yoko Tsushima, Benoît Meyssignac, Norman G. Loeb, Maria Z. Hakuba, Peter Pilewskie, Jason N. S. Cole, Kentaroh Suzuki, Thomas P. Ackerman, Richard P. Allan, Timothy Andrews, Frida A.‐M. Bender, Jonah Bloch‐Johnson, Alejandro Bodas‐Salcedo, Anca Brookshaw, Paulo Ceppi, Nicolas Clerbaux, A. E. Dessler, Aaron Donohoe, Jean‐Louis Dufresne, Veronika Eyring, Kirsten L. Findell, Andrew Gettelman, Jake J. Gristey, Ed Hawkins, Patrick Heimbach, Helene T. Hewitt, Nadir Jeevanjee, Colin Jones, Sarah M. Kang, Seiji Kato, Jennifer E. Kay, Stephen A. Klein, Reto Knutti, Ryan J. Kramer, June‐Yi Lee, Daniel T. McCoy, Brian Medeiros, Linda Megner, Angshuman Modak, Tomoo Ogura, Matthew D. Palmer, David Paynter, Johannes Quaas, V. Ramanathan, Mark A. Ringer, Karina von Schuckmann, Steven C. Sherwood, Björn Stevens, Ivy Tan, George Tselioudis, Rowan Sutton, Aiko Voigt, Masahiro Watanabe, Mark J. Webb, Martin Wild, Mark D. Zelinka
Abstract
Abstract Global warming results from anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions which upset the delicate balance between the incoming sunlight, and the reflected and emitted radiation from Earth. The imbalance leads to energy accumulation in the atmosphere, oceans and land, and melting of the cryosphere, resulting in increasing temperatures, rising sea levels, and more extreme weather around the globe. Despite the fundamental role of the energy imbalance in regulating the climate system, as known to humanity for more than two centuries, our capacity to observe it is rapidly deteriorating as satellites are being decommissioned.