Goddard Scientific Colloquium

Speaker: Ryan Kramer, Assistant Research Scientist, Climate and Radiation Lab (613/UMBC)

Title: "In the Red: How an Imbalance in Earth's Energy Budget is Warming the Planet"

Like everything in life, climate change is about balance. Or rather a lack thereof. The Earth receives a steady supply of incoming radiation from the sun, which is eventually absorbed or reflected back out to space. Simultaneously, the planet emits thermal radiation out to space. When the incoming and outgoing energy is in balance, the climate is stable. Currently it's not, so the planet is warming.  

In this colloquium, we explore how NASA observations tell us humans are contributing to climate's growing energy imbalance, using measurements from across the Earth Observing System to diagnose present day radiative forcing and feedbacks on surface temperature and the hydrological cycle. We'll then discuss what climate models tell us about the future of the energy budget, highlighting new work that suggests carbon dioxide will become a more potent greenhouse gas as  the background climate continues to change.