Decadal Changes of the Reflected Solar Radiation and the Earth Energy Imbalance

Dewitte, Steven; Clerbaux, Nicolas; Cornelis, Jan

doi:10.3390/rs11060663

Cited by 9 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Dewitte et al [15] have analyzed CERES data until 2017, and found a positive TOA net flux but with a declining trend. In the data presented here, the TOA net flux has a similar average positive value but is slightly rising with time.…”

Section: Results and Discussion: Top Of Atmosphere (Toa) Radiative Balancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Dewitte et al [15] have analyzed CERES datasets for the period from 2000 to 2018 and found an EEI value of about 0.9 W/m 2 but with a declining trend going in line with a declining time-derivative of the latest OHC data obtained from Cheng et al [9]. Based upon recent CERES data, Loeb et al [16], Wong et al [17] and Ollila [18] reported an increasing downwelling shortwave (SW) radiation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Radiative Energy Flux Variation from 2001–2020

Dübal¹,

Vahrenholt

2021

Atmosphere

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Radiative energy flux data, downloaded from CERES, are evaluated with respect to their variations from 2001 to 2020. We found the declining outgoing shortwave radiation to be the most important contributor for a positive TOA (top of the atmosphere) net flux of 0.8 W/m2 in this time frame. We compare clear sky with cloudy areas and find that changes in the cloud structure should be the root cause for the shortwave trend. The radiative flux data are compared with ocean heat content data and analyzed in the context of a longer-term climate system enthalpy estimation going back to the year 1750. We also report differences in the trends for the Northern and Southern hemisphere. The radiative data indicate more variability in the North and higher stability in the South. The drop of cloudiness around the millennium by about 1.5% has certainly fostered the positive net radiative flux. The declining TOA SW (out) is the major heating cause (+1.42 W/m2 from 2001 to 2020). It is almost compensated by the growing chilling TOA LW (out) (−1.1 W/m2). This leads together with a reduced incoming solar of −0.17 W/m2 to a small growth of imbalance of 0.15 W/m2. We further present surface flux data which support the strong influence of the cloud cover on the radiative budget.

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Section: Results and Discussion: Top Of Atmosphere (Toa) Radiative Balancementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiative Energy Flux Variation from 2001–2020

Dübal¹,

Vahrenholt

2021

Atmosphere

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“…In particular, several papers have discussed a decline in the magnitude of EEI and the ocean heat gain during the 2000s, potentially linked to internal changes such as variations in Earth surface temperature rise or periods of strong climate variability (Dewitte et al, 2019;Smith et al, 2015).…”

Section: The Earth Heat Inventory: Where Does the Energy Go?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Heat stored in the Earth system: Where does the energy go? The GCOS Earth heat inventory team

Schuckmann¹,

Cheng²,

Palmer³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Abstract. Human-induced atmospheric composition changes cause a radiative imbalance at the top-of-atmosphere which is driving global warming. This Earth Energy Imbalance (EEI) is a fundamental metric of climate change. Understanding the heat gain of the Earth system from this accumulated heat – and particularly how much and where the heat is distributed in the Earth system – is fundamental to understanding how this affects warming oceans, atmosphere and land, rising temperatures and sea level, and loss of grounded and floating ice, which are fundamental concerns for society. This study is a Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) concerted international effort to update the Earth heat inventory, and presents an updated international assessment of ocean warming estimates, and new and updated estimates of heat gain in the atmosphere, cryosphere and land over the period 1960–2018. The study obtains a consistent long-term Earth system heat gain over the past 58 years, with a total heat gain of 393 &pm; 40 ZJ, which is equivalent to a heating rate of 0.42 &pm; 0.04 W m−2. The majority of the heat gain (89 %) takes place in the global ocean (0–700 m: 53 %; 700–2000 m: 28 %; > 2000 m: 8 %), while it amounts to 6 % for the land heat gain, to 4 % available for the melting of grounded and floating ice, and to 1 % for atmospheric warming. These new estimates indicate a larger contribution of land and ice heat gain (10 % in total) compared to previous estimates (7 %). There is a regime shift of the Earth heat inventory over the past 2 decades, which appears to be predominantly driven by heat sequestration into the deeper layers of the global ocean, and a doubling of heat gain in the atmosphere. However, a major challenge is to reduce uncertainties in the Earth heat inventory, which can be best achieved through the maintenance of the current global climate observing system, its extension into areas of gaps in the sampling, as well as to establish an international framework for concerted multi-disciplinary research of the Earth heat inventory. Earth heat inventory is published at DKRZ (https://www.dkrz.de/) under the doi: https://doi.org/10.26050/WDCC/GCOS_EHI_EXP (von Schuckmann et al., 2020).

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“…Stability is easier to achieve than absolute accuracy, and is more relevant for climate change monitoring. In [5], changes of the EEI of the order of 0.1 W/m 2 per decade are reported, and the absolute accuracy of CERES in the EEI measurement equals 4.9 W/m 2 , which is the state-of-the-art accuracy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Due to their fundamental importance for climate change, the ERB components are part of the Essential Climate Variables (ECV's), of which the monitoring is mandatory following the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) requirements [2]. The Earth Energy Imbalance (EEI), more particularly, is among the most fundamental climate change parameters to be monitored [3][4][5]. The EEI is the small but non-zero difference between Earth's incoming and outgoing radiative energy fluxes: EEI = ISR − RSR − OLR; it is the direct driver of climate change on Earth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and Analysis of a Next-Generation Wide Field-of-View Earth Radiation Budget Radiometer

et al. 2020

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Climate on Earth is determined by the Earth Radiation Budget (ERB), which quantifies the incoming and outgoing radiative energy fluxes. The ERB can be monitored by non-scanning wide field-of-view radiometers, or by scanning narrow field-of-view radiometers. We propose an enhanced design for the wide field-of-view radiometer, with as key features the use of a near-spherical cavity to obtain a uniform angular sensitivity and the integration of the shuttered electrical substitution principle, eliminating long term drifts of the radiometer and improving its time response. The target absolute accuracy is 1 W/m 2 and the target stability is 0.1 W/m 2 per decade for the measurement of the total outgoing Earth’s radiation. In order to increase the spatial resolution and to separate the total outgoing radiation into reflected Solar and emitted thermal radiation, we propose the joint use of the radiometer with wide field-of-view Shortwave (400–900 nm) and Longwave (8–14 μm) cameras. This paper presents the concept and design of the novel wide field-of-view radiometer, including simulations and analyses of its expected performance. We focus on mechanical design and the measurement characteristics based on optical and thermal analyses. In combination with the cameras, we obtain an estimated accuracy of 0.44 W/m 2 .

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Decadal Changes of the Reflected Solar Radiation and the Earth Energy Imbalance

Cited by 9 publications

References 19 publications

Radiative Energy Flux Variation from 2001–2020

Radiative Energy Flux Variation from 2001–2020

Heat stored in the Earth system: Where does the energy go? The GCOS Earth heat inventory team

Design and Analysis of a Next-Generation Wide Field-of-View Earth Radiation Budget Radiometer

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