Recent Energy Balance of Earth

Robert S. Knox, David H. Douglass
DOI: 10.4236/ijg.2010.13013                

Abstract

A recently published estimate of Earth’s global warming trend is 0.63 ± 0.28 W/m2, as calculated from ocean heat content anomaly data spanning 1993-2008. This value is not representative of the recent (2003-2008) warming/cooling rate because of a “flattening” that occurred around 2001-2002. Using only 2003-2008 data from Argo floats, we find by four different algorithms that the recent trend ranges from –0.010 to –0.161 W/m2 with a typical error bar of ±0.2 W/m2. These results fail to support the existence of a frequently-cited large positive computed radiative imbalance.

Keywords

Energy Balance, Radiative Imbalance, Ocean Heat Content

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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