A new assessment of the flows of energy through the climate system will be presented. It features an imbalance at the top-of-atmosphere owing to an enhanced greenhouse effect that produces global warming. Most of the surplus energy trapped increases ocean heat content. Large upwards surface thermal radiation is offset by back radiation from greenhouse gases and clouds in the atmosphere. The mean and annual cycle of energy flowing into the climate system and its storage, release, and transport in the atmosphere, ocean, and land surface will be illustrated from recent observations. We are able to close the energy budget reasonably well, although largest errors are determined to be in changes in ocean heat content, especially south of about 35°S. The winter hemisphere atmospheric circulation is identified as the dominant contributor to poleward energy transports outside of the Tropics (6 to 7 PetaWatts), with summer transports being relatively weak (~3 PW) – slightly more in the Southern Hemisphere and slightly less in the Northern Hemisphere. Ocean transports outside of the Tropics are found to be small (<2 PW) for all months. Strong cross equatorial heat transports in the ocean of up to 5 PW exhibit a large annual cycle, but one that is in phase with poleward atmospheric transports of the winter hemisphere.
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