The Crisis Report — 66

The die has been cast.

Fig. 1. Earth’s albedo (reflectivity, in percent), seasonality removed. From Large Cloud Feedback Confirms High Climate Sensitivity 2025

Since 2000 the Earth’s ALBEDO has decreased by about -0.6%. Most of the decrease (-0.5%) happened since 2014.

The ALBEDO is a measure of how much of the incoming short wave ENERGY from the Sun is “reflected away” back into space instead of going into the Climate System.

On average, about 30% of the sunlight that hits the Earth bounces back into space.

The planetary albedo helps determine the Earth’s average temperature. If the albedo rises (meaning that more light gets reflected back to space), all other things staying equal, our planet gets cooler. If the planetary albedo declines, the earth warms up.

Here’s the bad news: the Earth’s albedo has been declining during the last 20 years. BY A LOT, although it seems like a small amount.

Here’s what James Hansen stated in his post, Large Cloud Feedback Confirms High Climate Sensitivity 2025arge Cloud Feedback Confirms High Climate Sensitivity — May, 2025

Earth’s albedo (or reflectivity) is the portion (percent) of incoming solar radiation that is reflected back to space. As shown in Fig. 1, in the period of precise satellite data (since early 2000), Earth’s albedo has decreased about 0.5%.