RT Journal Article
T1 Long-term global ground heat flux and continental heat storage from geothermal data
A1 Cuesta Valero, Francisco José
A1 García García, Almudena
A1 Beltrami, Hugo
A1 González Rouco, Jesús Fidel
A1 García Bustamante, Elena
AB Energy exchanges among climate subsystems are of critical importance to determine the climate sensitivity of the Earth’s system to greenhouse gases, to quantify the magnitude and evolution of the Earth’s energy imbalance, and to project the evolution of future climate. Thus, ascertaining the magnitude of and change in the Earth’s energy partition within climate subsystems has become urgent in recent years. Here, we provide new global estimates of changes in ground surface temperature, ground surface heat flux, and continental heat storage derived from geothermal data using an expanded database and new techniques. Results reveal markedly higher changes in ground heat flux and heat storage within the continental subsurface than previously reported, with land temperature changes of 1 K and continental heat gains of around 12 ZJ during the last part of the 20th century relative to preindustrial times. Half of the heat gain by the continental subsurface since 1960 has occurred in the last 20 years.
PB Copernicus Gesellschaft MBH
SN 1814-9324
YR 2021
FD 2021-02-19
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/7973
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/7973
LA eng
NO © Author(s) 2021. We are grateful for two anonymous reviewers and their thoughtful and constructive feedback. This analysis contributes to the PALEOLINK project (http://pastglobalchanges. org/science/wg/2knetwork/projects/paleolink/intro, last access: 16 February 2021), part of the PAGES 2k Network. Hugo Beltrami was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canada Research Chairs Program, and the Canada Foundation for Innovation. Hugo Beltrami holds the Canada Research Chair in Climate Dynamics. Almudena García-García and Francisco José Cuesta-Valero were funded by Hugo Beltrami’s Canada Research Chair program, the School of Graduate Students at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, and the Research Office at St. Francis Xavier University. This research has been supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (grant no. NSERC DG 140576948) and the Canada Research Chairs (grant no. CRC 230687).
NO Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
NO Canada Research Chairs Program
DS Docta Complutense
RD 7 oct 2025