The Earth is now trapping an ‘unprecedented’ amount of heat, NASA says - The Washington Post

The amount of heat Earth traps has roughly doubled since 2005, contributing to more rapidly warming oceans, air and land, according to new research from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“The Earth is warming faster than expected.”.

When there is a positive imbalance — Earth absorbing more heat than it is losing — it is a first step toward global warming, said Stuart Evans, a climate scientist at the University at Buffalo.

Johnson said the energy increase is equivalent to four detonations per second of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, or every person on Earth using 20 electric tea kettles at once.

The agreement between the data sets surpassed expectations, Loeb said, calling it the “nail in the coffin” for the imbalance results.

The study points to decreases in cloud cover and sea ice, which reflect solar energy back into space, and an increase in greenhouse gases emitted by humans, such as methane and carbon dioxide, as well as water vapor, which trap more heat in the Earth, as factors in the imbalance.

Tracking Earth’s energy imbalance will also help scientists better understand climate change, Johnson said

The imbalance, he said, measures “the full amount of heat that goes into the climate system.”

Regardless of the magnitude or reasons for the accelerated imbalance, the fact that it is positive is crucial, said Trenberth