 Even though the overall climate system has continued to accumulate energy due to Earth's positive energy budget, the available temperature readings at the Earth's surface indicate slower rates of increase in surface warming than in the prior decade.Since measurements at the top of the atmosphere show that Earth is receiving more energy than it is radiating back into space, the retained energy should be producing warming in the Earth's climate system.Research reported in July 2015 on an updated NOAA dataset casts doubt on the existence of a hiatus, and it finds no indication of a slowdown even in earlier years.