Heat stored in the Earth system 1960–2020: where does the energy go?

Abstract. The Earth climate system is out of energy balance, and heat has accumulated continuously over the past decades, warming the ocean, the land, the cryosphere, and the atmosphere. According to the Sixth Assessment Report by Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, this planetary warming over multiple decades is human-driven and results in unprecedented and committed changes to the Earth system, with adverse impacts for ecosystems and human systems. The Earth heat inventory provides a measure of the Earth energy imbalance (EEI) and allows for quantifying how much heat has accumulated in the Earth system, as well as where the heat is stored. Here we show that the Earth system has…

• DK
  Deutsches Klimarechenzentrum
• SR
  Sight Research UK

  Awards: noc010012, NE/T011920/1, NE/N006054/1, NE/N006038/1, NE/R016518/1, NE/K005480/1
• NE
  Natural Environment Research Council

  Awards: noc010012, NE/N006054/1, NE/K005480/1, NE/R016518/1, NE/T011920/1, NE/N006038/1