Living in Bomb Time — 22

I’m actually being “conservative” when I tell you that things are bad.

This graph shows the downward trend in Earth’s albedo, as measured by earthshine (black) and CERES data (blue) in watts per square meter. Image credit: Goode et al. (2021), Geophysical Research Letters.

So, if you don’t know what this graph is, then you don’t know what’s happening with the climate system right now. I’m not going to explain it again, this is one of the most important graphs in the history of climate science. It’s right up there with the “hockey stick” graphic.

So, learn what this graph means: it’s important.

Here’s the paper it’s from.

Earth’s Albedo 1998–2017 as Measured From Earthshine pub. Aug 2021

Here’s my discussion and analysis.

Climate Report Part Three continued: Heat doesn’t “just happen”; Where it’s coming from and why that matters

Here’s some additional things you should notice about this graph.

1. When Goode says that the Earth’s albedo has declined about 0.6W/m2 since 1999, he’s not referring to where the blue dotted line ends up in “2020”. He’s talking about the black-dotted-line between 1999 and 2017.

The one that starts at +0.4W/m2 and ends at -0.2W/m2.

That’s the 0.6W/m2 of additional “climate forcing” due to albedo diminishment that Goode is talking about.