Budgets: Mass, Moisture, Energy
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Main content
The uneven distribution of incoming and outgoing radiation is the primary driver of the climate system. The resulting flows of energy by the climate components (atmosphere, ocean, ice, etc) determine the climate. Ultimately, the net difference between incoming and outgoing radiation determines if the climate is changing. Hence, estimating and understanding energy transports is essential for current climate assessment and future prospects.
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Suggested Data Citation
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Hosted Climate Index Files
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Key Figures
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Earth system components and main variables
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Ocean or Land
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Key Publications
- Trenberth, K. E. and J. T. Fasullo, 2011: Tracking Earth's energy: From El Niño to global warming. Surveys in Geophysics, Special Issue
- Trenberth, K. E., J. T. Fasullo, and J. Mackaro, 2011: Atmospheric moisture transports from ocean to land and global energy flows in reanalyses. J. Climate, 24, 4907-4924
- Trenberth, K.E. & D.Stepaniak (2004): The flow of energy through the earth’s climate system. Q. J. R. Meteorol. Soc. (2004), 130, pp. 2677–2701
- Matthew D. Palmer. (2012) Climate and Earth’s Energy Flows. Surveys in Geophysics Online publication date: 3-Feb-2012
- Kiehl JT, Trenberth KE (1997) Earth’s annual global mean energy budget. Bull Am Meteor Soc 78:197–208
- Wang, K., and R. E. Dickinson (2012), A review of global terrestrial evapotranspiration: Observation, modeling, climatology, and climatic variability, Rev. Geophys., 50, RG2005