Earth’s energy budget (Q511)

Subject, term, tag: Earth’s energy budget

Language	Label	Description	Also known as
English	Earth’s energy budget	Subject, term, tag: Earth’s energy budget

Statements

Instance of

Category

source version

IPCC Glossary v1.5

1 reference

Source

https://apps.ipcc.ch/glossary/

date accessed

27 May 2026

Part of

Working Group I: Climate Change 2021 – The Physical Science Basis

0 references

Definition

encompasses the major energy flows of relevance for the climate system: the top-of-atmosphere energy budget; the surface energy budget; changes in the global energy inventory and internal flows of energy within the climate system that characterize the climate state. From Wikipedia Earth's energy budget (or Earth's energy balance) accounts for the balance between the energy that Earth receives from the Sun and the energy the Earth loses back into outer space. Smaller energy sources, such as Earth's internal heat, are taken into consideration, but make a tiny contribution compared to solar energy. The energy budget also accounts for how energy moves through the climate system. (English)