DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17339736
title: Robust increase in observed heat storage by the global subsurface: Ground heat storage estimates

description: Dataset overview

This dataset includes global estimates of ground heat storage (GHS) for the period 1960-2020. The time series were created by combining geothermal estimates from Cuesta-Valero et al. (2022) and values retrieved from satellite remote sensing products. The GHS data was developed and first analyzed in Cuesta-Valero et al. (2025).

GHS values were obtained as the cumulative sum of estimates of ground heat flux, considering a typical value of thermal inertia for geothermal records, and an effective thermal inertia for satellite records. Geothermal and satellite data were reconciled considering a physical method and a statistical method, thus two global GHS averages are provided.These estimates should be considered as upper and lower boundary values for GHS. The mean GHS from the two methods is also provided and can be considered as the reference for the period of interest.

 

Dataset contents

The netcdf file contains the GHS estimates from geothermal and satellite data since 1960. The ghs_phys and ghs_stats variables include estimates for which the physical and statistical reconciliation methods were used, while the ghs_avg variable corresponds to the average of the estimates from both methods. The standard deviation values for each estimate correspond to the variables ghs_phys_std, ghs_stats_std, and ghs_avg_std.

Citation instructions

Please, indicate the following reference when citing this dataset:



Cuesta-Valero, F. J., García-García, A., Beltrami, H., Garcí-Pereira, F., González-Rouco, J. F., and Peng, J. (2025). Robust increase in observed heat storage by the global subsurface. Science Advances, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adw9958.


Additional resources

For further information about the land component of the Earth heat inventory:



Cuesta-Valero, F. J., Beltrami, H., García-García, A., Krinner, G., Langer, M., MacDougall, A. H., Nitzbon, J., Peng, J., von Schuckmann, K., Seneviratne, S. I., Thiery, W., Vanderkelen, I., and Wu, T. (2023). Continental heat storage: Contributions from ground, inland waters, and permafrost thawing. Earth Syst. Dynam., 14, 609-627, https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-14-609-2023. 

von Schuckmann, K., Minière, A., Gues, F., Cuesta-Valero, F. J., Kirchengast, G., Adusumilli, S., Straneo, F., Ablain, M., Allan, R. P., Barker, P. M., Beltrami, H., Blazquez, A., Boyer, T., Cheng, L., Church, J., Desbruyeres, D., Dolman, H., Domingues, C. M., García-García, A., Giglio, D., Gilson, J. E., Gorfer, M., Haimberger, L., Hakuba, M. Z., Hendricks, S., Hosoda, S., Johnson, G. C., Killick, R., King, B., Kolodziejczyk, N., Korosov, A., Krinner, G., Kuusela, M., Landerer, F. W., Langer, M., Lavergne, T., Lawrence, I., Li, Y., Lyman, J., Marti, F., Marzeion, B., Mayer, M., MacDougall, A. H., McDougall, T., Monselesan, D. P., Nitzbon, J., Otosaka, I., Peng, J., Purkey, S., Roemmich, D., Sato, K., Sato, K., Savita, A., Schweiger, A., Shepherd, A., Seneviratne, S. I., Simons, L., Slater, D. A., Slater, T., Steiner, A. K., Suga, T., Szekely, T., Thiery, W., Timmermans, M.-L., Vanderkelen, I., Wjiffels, S. E., Wu, T., and Zemp, M. (2023). Heat stored in the Earth system 1960-2020: where does the energy go? Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 1675-1709, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-1675-2023.


For further information about the geothermal estimates:



Cuesta-Valero, F. J., Beltrami, H., Gruber, S., García-García, A., and González-Rouco, J. F. (2022). A new bootstrap technique to quantify uncertainty in estimates of ground surface temperature and ground heat flux histories from geothermal data. Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 7913-7932, doi:10.5194/gmd-15-7913-2022.

Cuesta-Valero F.J., García-García A., Beltrami H., González-Rouco J.F., and García-Bustamante E. (2021). Long-Term Global Ground Heat Flux and Continental Heat Storage from Geothermal Data. Clim. Past, 17, 451-468, doi:10.5194/cp-17-451-2021.

Beltrami, H., J. Smerdon, H. N. Pollack and S. Huang (2002). Continental heat gain in the global climate system. Geophysical Research Letters, 29 (8), 1167, doi:10.1029/2001GL014310.