I’ve written before about the amazing stability of the climate system. This is another example. In the past people have objected that the system is forced to be stable, because over time, energy out must generally equal energy in.

But the global solar energy input, the amount of the available solar energy that actually makes it into the climate system, is under no such constraint. There is nothing that it must balance to. Solar energy input is a function of the albedo, which is determined by clouds, snow, ice, vegetation, and wind, and all of these are constantly varying in all parts of the planet