Van Loon, S., Rugenstein, M., Zelinka, M.D. et al. (1 more author) (2026) Recent Weakening of the Global Radiative Feedback. Geophysical Research Letters, 53 (12). e2026GL122980. ISSN: 0094-8276
Abstract
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 ≃ − 3 Wm− 2 /K), but has since weakened significantly (λ ≃ − 2 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.
Metadata
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Authors/Creators: |
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| Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2026. The Author(s). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Keywords: | radiative feedback, pattern effect, climate stability |
| Dates: |
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| Institution: | The University of Leeds |
| Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Inst for Climate & Atmos Science (ICAS) (Leeds) |
| Date Deposited: | 09 Sep 2026 12:56 |
| Last Modified: | 09 Sep 2026 12:56 |
| Status: | Published |
| Publisher: | American Geophysical Union (AGU) |
| Identification Number: | 10.1029/2026gl122980 |
| Sustainable Development Goals: | |
| Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:245269 |


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