Global warming has trapped an explosive amount of energy in Earth’s atmosphere in the past half century — the equivalent of about 25 billion atomic bombs, a new study finds.
In the paper, published April 17 in the journal Earth System Science Data, an international group of researchers estimated that, between 1971 and 2020, around 380 zettajoules — that is, 380,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 joules — of energy has been trapped by global warming.
Such a big number is hard to put into context. But two researchers, who were not involved in the study, have put it into perspective by comparing the energy to that released by nukes. However, even then, the amount is still hard to wrap your head around.
“Writer Fuel” is a series of cool real-world stories that might inspire your little writer heart. Check out our Writer Fuel page on the LimFic blog for more inspiration.
