Greater committed warming after accounting for the pattern effect

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 04 January 2021; doi:10.1038/s41558-020-00955-x

Earth’s energy budget depends on the global sea surface temperature pattern, which is currently counteracting warming more strongly than expected in the future. Including this pattern effect in projections causes committed warming with present-day forcing to exceed the Paris goals, implying less leeway than anticipated.