The main goals of this working group are the assessment of the magnitude and uncertainties of the components of the global energy balance, their decadal changes and underlying causes as well as their significance for other climate system components and climate change.

Leads/Contacts

Co-Chair: Norman Loeb
Co-Chair: Martin Wild

Mission Statement

The working group, comprised of members who produce, disseminate and analyze surface and satellite data products relevant to the study of the Earth’s energy balance, serves also as a forum to discuss to what extent the datasets currently available to the scientific community are adequate for advancing the state of knowledge on the Earth’s energy balance. Where appropriate, the working group makes recommendations highlighting areas where further work is needed (e.g., new datasets, new observations, etc.)

Key Activities

• Foster, coordinate and conduct research on the components of the global energy balance and their decadal changes at the top of the atmosphere (TOA), surface, and within the atmosphere.
• Integrate surface-based and satellite information to reassess the global mean energy balance and, ultimately, provide a complete picture of the four-dimensional spatio-temporal evolution of energy balances at the surface, within the atmosphere, and at the TOA.
• Foster and coordinate the establishment and dissemination of the necessary space-born and ground-based datasets and modeling approaches, as an internationally coordinated service to the scientific community.
• Engage with researchers in other domains in need of energy balance data (e.g. climate modelers, hydrologists, glaciologists, carbon cycle modelers, phenologists) to assess their requirements and advise on data usage.
• Provide better constraints for the energy balance in climate models, particularly in view of upcoming IPCC assessment reports.