National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration
United States Department of Commerce

AGU

Joint NASA, NOAA Study Finds Earth's Energy Imbalance Has Doubled

NOAA and NASA researchers have found that Earth’s energy imbalance approximately doubled during the 14-year period from 2005 to 2019. Earth's climate is determined by a delicate balance between how much of the Sun's radiative energy is absorbed in the atmosphere and at the surface and how much thermal infrared radiation Earth emits to space. A positive energy imbalance means the Earth system is gaining energy, causing the planet to heat up.

Animated graph showing the increases in Earths energy uptake in front of an image of the Earth from space with the sun behind it.
CLICK IMAGE TO ANIMATE: Comparison of overlapping one-year estimates at 6-month intervals of net top-of-the-atmosphere annual energy flux from CERES (solid orange line) and an in situ observational estimate of uptake of energy by Earth climate system (solid turquoise line). Credits: NASA/Tim Marvel
 

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