Underestimated Heat Storage


Calculations show that the thermal energy stored by land masses has increased significantly. There are many effects of climate change. Perhaps the most broadly known is global warming, which is caused by heat building up in various parts of the Earth system, such as the atmosphere, the ocean, the cryosphere and the land. 89 percent of this excess heat is stored in the oceans, with the rest in ice and glaciers, the atmosphere and land masses (including inland water bodies).

Figure: Global heat storage

Global heat storage has increased significantly in the ground (red line), in thawing permafrost (green line) and in inland water bodies (blue line) over the period from 1960 to 2020. The new calculations add precision to data from an earlier study (von Schuckmann et al. (2020)).
Photo: Author(s) 2023