Clouds and Climate Change

[Randy Jennings]

Washington Post 4/7/2016: "For a long time, there’s been one key part of the Earth system that, just maybe, could help us out a little bit with our global warming problem: Clouds.

Clouds are central to the climate because their white surfaces reflect sunlight back to space, keeping the planet cooler than it would be otherwise. But they also trap infrared or heat radiation and prevent it from escaping the Earth (among many other relevant effects). So if a changing climate also changes clouds — which scientists definitely expect to happen — that could be very important, and there have been prominent suggestions that this could all play out in such a way as to slow down climate change."

Full story at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ainty-about-climate-change-is-not-our-friend/

Not trying to start a discussion on climate change (we have enough hot topics today), but this article does bring up something I had never thought about - how clouds and climate change in response to each other.

 

[Randall Bragg]

Enjoyed the article, but it brings up as many questions as answers. I am of the mindset that increased clouds, laden with heavy moisture, (not so much mixed-phased ice clouds), will act as a catalyst towards global warming, producing the greenhouse effect over equatorial jungles that will only speed up and enhance worldwide annual temperatures. I am clearly a pessimist when it comes to this topic, but I do hope research finds that increased global cloud cover will indeed slow down the warming process.