Frontiers in Marine Science (Aug 2019)
Measuring Global Ocean Heat Content to Estimate the Earth Energy Imbalance
- Benoit Meyssignac,
- Tim Boyer,
- Zhongxiang Zhao,
- Maria Z. Hakuba,
- Maria Z. Hakuba,
- Felix W. Landerer,
- Detlef Stammer,
- Armin Köhl,
- Seiji Kato,
- Tristan L’Ecuyer,
- Michael Ablain,
- John Patrick Abraham,
- Alejandro Blazquez,
- Anny Cazenave,
- John A. Church,
- Rebecca Cowley,
- Lijing Cheng,
- Catia M. Domingues,
- Catia M. Domingues,
- Catia M. Domingues,
- Donata Giglio,
- Viktor Gouretski,
- Masayoshi Ishii,
- Gregory C. Johnson,
- Rachel E. Killick,
- David Legler,
- William Llovel,
- John Lyman,
- John Lyman,
- Matthew Dudley Palmer,
- Steve Piotrowicz,
- Sarah G. Purkey,
- Dean Roemmich,
- Rémy Roca,
- Abhishek Savita,
- Abhishek Savita,
- Karina von Schuckmann,
- Sabrina Speich,
- Graeme Stephens,
- Gongjie Wang,
- Susan Elisabeth Wijffels,
- Nathalie Zilberman
Affiliations
- Benoit Meyssignac
- LEGOS, CNES, CNRS, UPS, IRD, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France
- Tim Boyer
- NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Silver Spring, MD, United States
- Zhongxiang Zhao
- Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
- Maria Z. Hakuba
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States
- Maria Z. Hakuba
- Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States
- Felix W. Landerer
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States
- Detlef Stammer
- Centrum für Erdsystemforschung und Nachhaltigkeit, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
- Armin Köhl
- Centrum für Erdsystemforschung und Nachhaltigkeit, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
- Seiji Kato
- NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, United States
- Tristan L’Ecuyer
- Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI, United States
- Michael Ablain
- Collecte Localisation Satellite, Ramonville-Saint-Agne, France
- John Patrick Abraham
- 0University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN, United States
- Alejandro Blazquez
- LEGOS, CNES, CNRS, UPS, IRD, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France
- Anny Cazenave
- LEGOS, CNES, CNRS, UPS, IRD, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France
- John A. Church
- 1Climate Change Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Rebecca Cowley
- 2Climate Science Centre, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Hobart, TAS, Australia
- Lijing Cheng
- 3International Center for Climate and Environment Sciences, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- Catia M. Domingues
- 4Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia
- Catia M. Domingues
- 5Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre, Hobart, TAS, Australia
- Catia M. Domingues
- 6Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, Australian Research Council, Hobart, TAS, Australia
- Donata Giglio
- 7Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States
- Viktor Gouretski
- 8Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability, CliSAP, Integrated Climate Data Center, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
- Masayoshi Ishii
- 9Meteorological Research Institute, Japan Meteorological Agency, Tsukuba, Japan
- Gregory C. Johnson
- 0NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, Seattle, WA, United States
- Rachel E. Killick
- 1Met Office Hadley Centre, Exeter, United Kingdom
- David Legler
- 2NOAA Climate Program Office, Silver Spring, MD, United States
- William Llovel
- LEGOS, CNES, CNRS, UPS, IRD, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France
- John Lyman
- 0NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, Seattle, WA, United States
- John Lyman
- 3Joint Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, United States
- Matthew Dudley Palmer
- 1Met Office Hadley Centre, Exeter, United Kingdom
- Steve Piotrowicz
- 2NOAA Climate Program Office, Silver Spring, MD, United States
- Sarah G. Purkey
- 4Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States
- Dean Roemmich
- 7Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States
- Rémy Roca
- LEGOS, CNES, CNRS, UPS, IRD, Université de Toulouse, Toulouse, France
- Abhishek Savita
- 4Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS, Australia
- Abhishek Savita
- 6Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science, Australian Research Council, Hobart, TAS, Australia
- Karina von Schuckmann
- 5Mercator Ocean International, Ramonville-Saint-Agne, France
- Sabrina Speich
- 6Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France
- Graeme Stephens
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States
- Gongjie Wang
- 7College of Meteorology and Oceanography, National University of Defense Technology, Nanjing, China
- Susan Elisabeth Wijffels
- 8Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, United States
- Nathalie Zilberman
- 7Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2019.00432
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 6
Abstract
The energy radiated by the Earth toward space does not compensate the incoming radiation from the Sun leading to a small positive energy imbalance at the top of the atmosphere (0.4–1 Wm–2). This imbalance is coined Earth’s Energy Imbalance (EEI). It is mostly caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions and is driving the current warming of the planet. Precise monitoring of EEI is critical to assess the current status of climate change and the future evolution of climate. But the monitoring of EEI is challenging as EEI is two orders of magnitude smaller than the radiation fluxes in and out of the Earth system. Over 93% of the excess energy that is gained by the Earth in response to the positive EEI accumulates into the ocean in the form of heat. This accumulation of heat can be tracked with the ocean observing system such that today, the monitoring of Ocean Heat Content (OHC) and its long-term change provide the most efficient approach to estimate EEI. In this community paper we review the current four state-of-the-art methods to estimate global OHC changes and evaluate their relevance to derive EEI estimates on different time scales. These four methods make use of: (1) direct observations of in situ temperature; (2) satellite-based measurements of the ocean surface net heat fluxes; (3) satellite-based estimates of the thermal expansion of the ocean and (4) ocean reanalyses that assimilate observations from both satellite and in situ instruments. For each method we review the potential and the uncertainty of the method to estimate global OHC changes. We also analyze gaps in the current capability of each method and identify ways of progress for the future to fulfill the requirements of EEI monitoring. Achieving the observation of EEI with sufficient accuracy will depend on merging the remote sensing techniques with in situ measurements of key variables as an integral part of the Ocean Observing System.
Keywords
