The world's clouds are shifting, but not in a good way
The way clouds cover the earth has dramatically changed over the last few decades, and what it means for our planet isn't very good.
Using satellite data to track cloud patterns since 1983, a new study published in Naturefound that, because of climate change, cloud coverage has shifted toward the poles.
This has caused the subtropical dry zones — between 20 and 30 degrees latitude in both hemispheres — to expand. In addition, the researchers found that the cloud tops are stretching higher into the atmosphere.
Taken together, these cloud changes can accelerate the warming of the planet.
Because of the orbital relationship between the earth and the sun, there's more solar radiation in the tropic regions than at the poles, so cloud coverage in these areas is particularly important. Clouds' bright-white nature increases the planet's albedo, or the earth's ability to reflect the sun's energy and radiation back into space.
So, without those clouds over the tropics, there will be less reflection and the earth is liable to warm faster.
In addition, the rising cloud tops increase their "greenhouse effect," meaning that clouds are now trapping more warm air beneath them. This could also accelerate the warming trend of the planet.
While most climate models predicted these kinds of changes, clouds have been notoriously difficult to study because of their shape-shifting nature, and there had been some disagreement between the climate models related to how clouds would be affected.
Still, this study is further evidence that significant climate change has already begun, and that future changes could mean more warming than was previously thought.
"I guess what was surprising is that a lot of times we think of climate change as something that's going to occur in the future," Joel Norris, a climate scientist at the University of California at San Diego, told NPR. "This is happening right now, it's happened during my lifetime. It was a bit startling."
Tags:
Need help? Visit our Support Group for help from our friendly Admins and members!
Visit The Temple
on Facebook:
Posted by Bill Walker on May 9, 2024 at 10:00pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
Posted by William J. Coblentz on April 28, 2024 at 8:03am 9 Comments 9 Likes
Posted by Atrayo on April 17, 2024 at 10:26am 0 Comments 1 Like
Posted by Atrayo on April 14, 2024 at 7:54am 0 Comments 1 Like
Posted by Atrayo on April 6, 2024 at 1:51pm 0 Comments 1 Like
Posted by Ghillie Dhu on March 2, 2024 at 5:06am 4 Comments 0 Likes
Posted by Atrayo on February 22, 2024 at 12:54am 0 Comments 1 Like
Posted by Atrayo on February 14, 2024 at 6:57pm 0 Comments 1 Like
Posted by Bill Walker on February 1, 2024 at 8:15pm 1 Comment 1 Like
Posted by Sky a.k.a. JD Aeon on January 7, 2024 at 4:30am 1 Comment 5 Likes
Posted by Atrayo on December 29, 2023 at 1:04pm 0 Comments 1 Like
Posted by Kitt on December 14, 2023 at 8:55pm 2 Comments 4 Likes
Posted by Atrayo on November 29, 2023 at 11:21pm 0 Comments 2 Likes
Posted by 06iiris on October 13, 2023 at 8:30am 0 Comments 1 Like
Posted by 06iiris on October 13, 2023 at 7:00am 0 Comments 0 Likes
Posted by 06iiris on October 12, 2023 at 3:30pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
Posted by 06iiris on October 12, 2023 at 6:00am 0 Comments 0 Likes
Posted by 06iiris on October 12, 2023 at 5:30am 0 Comments 0 Likes
Posted by 06iiris on October 11, 2023 at 1:00pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
Posted by 06iiris on October 11, 2023 at 8:30am 0 Comments 0 Likes
Added by Imelda James 0 Comments 0 Likes
Added by Imelda James 0 Comments 0 Likes
Added by Bryan_Thoth 0 Comments 0 Likes
© 2024 Created by Bryan Powered by