Journal Article

Earth's Energy Imbalance More Than Doubled in Recent Decades

Bodas‐Salcedo, Alejandro, Ackerman, Thomas P., Ogura, Tomoo, Mauritsen, Thorsten, Watanabe, Masahiro, Stevens, Bjorn, Clerbaux, Nicolas, Findell, Kirsten L., Hakuba, Maria, Bloch‐Johnson, Jonah, Cole, Jason, Sutton, Rowan, Brookshaw, Anca, Kramer, Ryan, Kay, Jennifer E., Palmer, Matthew D., Wild, Martin, Modak, Angshuman, Medeiros, Brian, Dufresne, Jean‐Louis, Donohoe, Aaron, Tan, Ivy, Webb, Mark J., Bender, Frida A.‐M., Ringer, Mark, Loeb, Norman G., Zelinka, Mark D., Knutti, Reto, Tselioudis, George, Dessler, Andrew E., Hawkins, Ed, Kang, Sarah M., Megner, Linda, Jeevanjee, Nadir, Jones, Colin, Heimbach, Patrick, Paynter, David, Kato, Seiji, Sherwood, Steven, Meyssignac, Benoit, Quaas, Johannes, Klein, Stephen A., Voigt, Aiko, Schuckmann, Karina, Gettelman, Andrew, Ceppi, Paulo, Suzuki, Kentaroh, Andrews, Timothy, McCoy, Daniel T., Tsushima, Yoko, Eyring, Veronika, Allan, Richard P., Gristey, Jake J., Pilewskie, Peter, Hewitt, Helene T., Lee, June‐Yi, Ramanathan, Veerabhadran

2025

Overview

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. Plain Language Summary Global warming is caused by the imbalance between the incoming radiation from the Sun and the reflected and outgoing infrared radiation from the 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 according the the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Observations from space of the energy imbalance shows that it is rising much faster than expected, and in 2023 it reached values two times higher than the best estimate from IPCC. We argue that we must strive to better understand this fundamental change in Earth's climate state, and ensure our capacity to monitor it in the future. Key Points Earth's energy imbalance more than doubled in recent decades The large trend has taken us by surprise, and as a community we should strive to understand the underlying causes Our capability to observe the Earth's energy imbalance and budget terms is threatened as satellites are decommissioned

• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc,Wiley Online Library,American Geophysical Union (AGU),Wiley
• Subject: Climate change / Climate system / Climatology / Cryosphere / Earth Sciences / energy imbalance / Extreme weather / Global warming / Greenhouse gas emissions / Meteorology / Ocean, Atmosphere / Oceans / Sciences of the Universe / Sea level rise