Global Temperature Setpoint

How Fast is the Setpoint Increasing?

A recent post in Open Mind estimates that global temperature is increasing at 0.032°C per year. In the last post I showed that, if all conditions remained the same, then the earth would warm to a “setpoint” temperature, Teq , at which its emitted thermal radiation would equal the absorbed solar radiation.  

The setpoint temperature has already passed 1.5°C above the preindustrial temperature. It is no longer possible to avoid passing 1.5°C without reducing the greenhouse effect or increasing earth’s albedo. So how fast is the setpoint temperature increasing?

Here is the setpoint since 2000 along with a straight line fit. The rate of increase of the setpoint is 0.0395°C per year.

If the trends in albedo and effective emissivity remain the same then the setpoint will exceed 2°C by 2033. In the last post I showed that, absorbed solar radiation has increased faster than the greenhouse effect, 0.791% vs 0.531% since 2000.  

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