According to a new study, Planet Earth is trapping twice the heat it did 14 years back. This raises concerns about climate change's potential acceleration.Researchers used data from the Clouds & the Earth's Radiant Energy System instrument (CERES), which is a NASA Earth-observation satellite that measures the amount of energy the planet absorbs in sunlight and emits into space as infrared radiation.The energy imbalance is the difference in incoming and outflowing energies. This study showed that the imbalance increased by two-thirds between 2005 and 2019.Related: NASA analysis shows 2020 tied record for hottest year,Additional data was obtained from Argo, an international network containing robotic sensors located all over the oceans. This monitors the speed at which the oceans heat up. Researchers said that comparing CERES data with Argo strengthened the findings, as global oceans absorb around 90% of the extra energy trapped on the planet."The two independent approaches to looking at Earth's energy imbalance changes are in really, really good agreement and both show this large trend," Norman Loeb (lead author of the new study, principal investigator for CERES at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton), said in a statement. He said that the trends he found were "quite alarming in some sense."Loeb and his colleagues concluded that the increase in heating was caused by both natural and man-made processes. The planet is absorbing more heat as a result of increasing levels of greenhouse gases like methane and carbon dioxide in its atmosphere.The planet's warming has led to a shrinking of ice sheets that reflect less energy onto the surface.Researchers discovered that the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, a natural recurring pattern, is also contributing to the phenomenon. Regular fluctuations in the Pacific Ocean's temperature are caused by the PDO cycle. It causes the western part to become cooler while the eastern parts to warm for ten years. The opposite trend occurs a decade later. Scientists stated that a PDO phase that was unusually intense began in 2014. It caused a decrease in cloud formation above ocean, which in turn led to increased energy absorption by the planet.Loeb stated that "it's likely to a mixture of anthropogenic forcing, and internal variability", referring to the effects of human activity on heat exchange between Earth's atmosphere, the surrounding space environment, and natural variations in planet's ecosystem behavior. "They both cause warming over this time, which leads to an extremely large change in Earth’s energy balance. This record is unmatched in terms of the magnitude of this increase.Loeb said that although the study only covers a brief period, the rate at which heat is uptaken suggests that the Earth's climate is more out of balance than previously thought. This means that worse effects (including a steeper rise in sea level) can be expected unless the trend is reversed.Geophysical Research Letters published the study June 15, 2009.Follow Tereza Pultarova @TerezaPultarova. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter @Spacedotcom
