Earth is holding twice as much heat as it did 20 years ago — scientists warn of accelerating climate change

The Earth’s atmosphere is now trapping far more heat than climate models predicted. This energy imbalance has doubled since 2005, from 0.6 to 1.3 watts per square meter, according to researchers from Australia, France and Sweden. The Conversation reports.

Scientists believe the acceleration is due to the accumulation of greenhouse gases and changes in cloud cover. In particular, the area of white reflective clouds has decreased, while darker ones have increased. This weakens the planet's ability to reflect the sun's heat back into space.

Most of the additional energy (up to 90%) is absorbed by the oceans, but there is also melting of glaciers and warming of land. This accumulation of heat has already raised the average temperature of the Earth by 1.3–1.5°C compared to the pre-industrial period.

The authors emphasize that real changes are happening faster than the models predict. If the trend continues, the world could face increased heat waves, droughts and storms. What is particularly worrying is that only models with high sensitivity to emissions come close to the recorded values - they predict more severe warming in the future.

An additional threat is a possible reduction in funding for satellite climate monitoring in the United States, a key tool that allows us to capture such changes at an early stage.