Earth's Energy Imbalance More Than Doubled in Recent Decades

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.

Authors

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
AGU Advances
Published
2025-05-10
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1029/2024av001636
Citations
14
Primary Topic
Global Energy and Sustainability Research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
5.09

Funders

Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

Earth's Energy Imbalance More Than Doubled in Recent Decades

Peter Pilewskie, Thorsten Mauritsen, Martin Wild, A. E. Dessler et al.
14 citations
AGU Advances
Global Energy and Sustainability Research
5.09
article

Earth's Energy Imbalance More Than Doubled in Recent Decades

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

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.

AGU AdvancesVol. 6(3)
NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (US), Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (BE), Goddard Institute for Space Studies (US), Tufts University (US), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (US), University of Wyoming (US), Met Office (GB), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), University of Vienna (AT), University of Leeds (GB), U.S. National Science Foundation (US), Langley Research Center (US), Jet Propulsion Laboratory (US), Environment and Climate Change Canada (CA), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (FR), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (US), Scripps Institution of Oceanography (US), European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (GB), Stockholm University (SE), Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (US), Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IN), Université Fédérale de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées (FR), University of Bremen (DE), University of Colorado Boulder (US), NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (US), National Institute for Environmental Studies (JP), University of Washington (US), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (FR), Central Institution for Meteorology and Geodynamics (AT), Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (US), Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR) (DE), UNSW Sydney (AU), ETH Zurich (CH), University of Bristol (GB), University of California San Diego (US), Sorbonne Université (FR), Institute for Basic Science (KR), National Centre for Atmospheric Science (GB), Laboratoire d’Études en Géophysique et Océanographie Spatiales (FR), Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (US), Mercator Ocean (France) (FR), ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science (AU), National Centre for Earth Observation (GB), NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory (US), NSF NCAR Climate and Global Dynamics Laboratory (US), Bolin Centre for Climate Research (SE), Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (DE), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR), Imperial College London (GB), Pusan National University (KR), McGill University (CA), University of Reading (GB), The University of Tokyo (JP), The University of Texas at Austin (US), Texas A&M University (US), Leipzig University (DE)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Boston College, Swedish e-Science Research Centre, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, European Space Agency, Met Office, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Swedish National Space Agency, Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, Vetenskapsrådet, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Office of Legacy Management, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Development of Advanced Measurement and Analysis Systems, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, HORIZON EUROPE European Research Council
Climate action
Openalex Percentile: Top 4%
Global Energy and Sustainability Research
5.09
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.