The earth has stored twice as much heat in the last 14 years

The heat wave that occurred in many places over the past week has shown us which scenarios we must increasingly reckon with in the future. It is getting warmer and warmer, droughts and water scarcity could one day become everyday problems in Germany. A new study has now examined the extent to which our planet stores heat and has come to an interesting result.

Because the heat that land masses, oceans and our atmosphere stores vs. releases again every day has doubled in the last fourteen years. The results published by the researchers were based on several data sources, one of which is measurements from a NASA satellite, which determines how much energy the earth’s atmosphere absorbs and how much is sent back.

But NOAA buoys that monitor ocean temperatures were also included in the study. Their data show, among other things, how much heat is actually absorbed by the world’s oceans. The difference between the energy absorbed and the energy released again is then referred to as the energy imbalance.

But why does the imbalance keep increasing? There are several reasons for this. The most obvious reason is climate change. Due to the high concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, energy is reflected back onto the planet instead of escaping into space. Another phenomenon is also responsible for the warming: the Pacific Decade Oscillation.

This is a climate phenomenon in which the temperatures of areas in the northern Pacific Ocean change dramatically. Between 2014 and 2019 we were in a PDO warm phase, which meant that the surface temperatures were higher by default. So this is another factor that contributed to the severe heating. So it remains to be seen to what extent the data can still change. The researchers would like to collect more information over the next decade in order to keep an eye on global warming.

Own opinion:

The planet is warming up, that should be clear to many people by now. However, if there is no improvement due to a PDO cold phase, the heating of the earth could become a major problem much earlier. Either way, now is the time to live as sustainably as possible and to leave a safe home for future generations.

Via The Verge