The amount of heat the planet is trapping is alarming. Within a decade and a half, the amount of heat trapped by the earth’s atmosphere has almost doubled, aiding global warming and other climate issues. This is an unprecedented increase amid the climate crisis.
According to the bewildering report from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (via CNN), this remarkable amount of energy has wide-ranging consequences for all living organisms sustaining on this planet.
“It’s the excess energy that is taken up by the planet,” explained Norman Loeb, a scientist at NASA and leading the study, “So it’s going to lead to further increase in the temperature and more melting of snow and sea ice, which will raise the sea level and everything else the society cares about.”
Life is indeed impossible without the sun’s energy, but the fact that matters is how much of it is being radiated back to space. The balance needs to be maintained to determine the planet’s climate. As for now, the imbalance is evident as the heat trapped in 2005 has been doubled by 2019.
Abiding Consequences
The most obvious consequence of this imbalance is the elevation in global temperatures. And then comes the shift in atmospheric circulations leading to droughts. Global warming traps the heat spurring different alterations in nature like melting the snowpacks and sea ice and also responsible for decreasing natural solar energy reflectors.
Satellite studies tell us that the earth is consuming more energy than what is needed, causing heating up of the planet which is known as positive energy imbalance.
90 percent of the harm due to the imbalance, ends up in the ocean. Warming it up leading to acidification, impacting fish life and the remaining marine biodiversity. This would also cause frequent hurricanes, marine heatwaves, and tsunamis. The leftover 10 percent deteriorates the atmosphere.
Cause of Energy imbalance
Energy imbalance is certainly due to human-induced greenhouse gases, as researchers proclaim. Climate change is an outcome of the global temperature, water vapors that rise in the atmosphere further help in increasing the temperature.
Researchers say that the naturally occurring changes in the Pacific ocean are another major contributing factor. The Pacific Decadal Oscillation-often described by a long-term El Nino-like climate pattern in the Pacific. They remained extensively warm from 2014 to 2020. This flip from cool to an elongated warm phase dwindles the cloud cover over the ocean, allowing the Pacific Ocean to absorb even more solar radiation.
“It’s the man-made change that is shifting the composition of the atmosphere and reason to the fluctuation in the climate” Loeb believes. “The observations are kind of blended.”
Researches only provide a glimpse of the evergoing climate problems and no one knows how long it would take to balance the sheet of Earth’s crises. 2005 to 2019 was a mere snapshot of the coming wave and this data is not enough to study the future trend. For that, a detailed long-term observation is required.
But this study is an alert to mankind as the situation needs to be controlled soon otherwise regret would be the only emotion left as with every passing day climate change will continue to worsen.
Matching with the pace of time doesn’t mean harming your planet Earth. Global heating is occurring with each passing day and it needs a full stop. Otherwise, the entire climate system is going to deteriorate.
Urgent need to act responsibly to lower down the rate of imbalance is required. If not then more alarming climate changes are on their way.