Speaker – Ryan Kramer, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (hosted by S. Larson),  Zoom only

Seminar title –  Observing and Modeling Earth’s Energy Imbalance in a Warming World

Abstract –  Like anything in life, climate change is about balance. Or rather a lack thereof. When Earth’s incoming and outgoing energy is in balance, the climate is stable. Currently it’s not, so the planet is warming.

In this seminar we explore how satellite observations confirm humans are contributing to the growing energy imbalance, using measurements from multiple instruments to diagnose present day radiative forcing and radiative feedbacks on surface temperature and the hydrological cycle. We’ll then discuss the value and limitations of using this satellite data to interpret simulations of the future energy budget and evaluate climate model uncertainty. To do so, I’ll highlight the sensitivity of radiative forcing and feedback to the background climate, showing new work that suggests carbon dioxide will become a more potent greenhouse gas as the climate state changes.