Recent Weakening of the Global Radiative Feedback

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Van Loon, Senne, Rugenstein, Maria, Zelinka, Mark D., Andrews, Timothy
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2026
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author Van Loon, Senne
Rugenstein, Maria
Zelinka, Mark D.
Andrews, Timothy
author_facet Van Loon, Senne
Rugenstein, Maria
Zelinka, Mark D.
Andrews, Timothy
contents Earth's climate stability, characterized by the global radiative feedback parameter ($λ$), varies decadally due to changing surface temperature patterns. Recent variations in $λ$ are poorly understood as coordinated model simulations typically end in 2014. We apply a convolutional neural network trained on climate model simulations to observation-based surface temperature reconstructions to estimate variations in $λ$ up to 2025. We find that $λ$ reached a minimum (maximum stability) around the mid 1990s ($λ\simeq -3 {\rm Wm^{-2}/K}$), but has since weakened significantly ($λ\simeq -2\, {\rm Wm^{-2}/K}$). We confirm these results with climate model simulations extended to 2022. The recent $λ$ weakening is not significantly affected by El Niño Southern Oscillation or Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Attribution reveals that warming in the subtropical Northeast Pacific is an important driver of the recently weakened feedback, confirmed by targeted experiments in E3SMv2. Our approach enables near real-time monitoring of Earth's climate stability.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_12515
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Recent Weakening of the Global Radiative Feedback
Van Loon, Senne
Rugenstein, Maria
Zelinka, Mark D.
Andrews, Timothy
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Earth's climate stability, characterized by the global radiative feedback parameter ($λ$), varies decadally due to changing surface temperature patterns. Recent variations in $λ$ are poorly understood as coordinated model simulations typically end in 2014. We apply a convolutional neural network trained on climate model simulations to observation-based surface temperature reconstructions to estimate variations in $λ$ up to 2025. We find that $λ$ reached a minimum (maximum stability) around the mid 1990s ($λ\simeq -3 {\rm Wm^{-2}/K}$), but has since weakened significantly ($λ\simeq -2\, {\rm Wm^{-2}/K}$). We confirm these results with climate model simulations extended to 2022. The recent $λ$ weakening is not significantly affected by El Niño Southern Oscillation or Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Attribution reveals that warming in the subtropical Northeast Pacific is an important driver of the recently weakened feedback, confirmed by targeted experiments in E3SMv2. Our approach enables near real-time monitoring of Earth's climate stability.
title Recent Weakening of the Global Radiative Feedback
topic Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.12515