Human-induced climate change is skewing Earth’s energy balance and oceans are bearing the brunt of the heat accumulation, according to a new study. About 89 per cent of the warming in the last 50 years has been absorbed by the ocean and the rest by the land, cryosphere and atmosphere.
About 381 zettajoules (ZJ) of heat accumulated on the planet from 1971-2020 due to anthropogenic emissions, according to the study published in journal Earth System Science Data. One ZJ is equal to 10 to the power of 21 joules.
This roughly equals a heating rate (Earth Energy Imbalance or EEI) of approximately 0.48 watts per square metre.
About 89 per cent of the accumulated heat is stored in the ocean, six per cent on land, a per cent in the atmosphere and about four per cent available for melting the cryosphere,
— source downtoearth.org.in | Rohini Krishnamurthy | 20 Apr 2023