Cloud Variations Influence Global Warming

A team of experts from the Texas A&M University proposes that human activities continuously influence the development and behavior of clouds, which in turn contributes to amplifying the climate change our planet is experiencing.

The researchers explain that we may be entering a vicious circle from which there is no escape. They say that global warming will begin to trigger the development of more clouds, which will in turn lead to more heat being trapped in the atmosphere.

As this happens, temperatures will increase even further, and global warming will become even more noticeable, forcing clouds to trap even more heat in. This scenario needs to be avoided at all costs.

According to A&M Department of Atmospheric Sciences professor Andrew Dessler, this process is called “cloud feedback.” Calculations show it will be one of the main contributors to temperature rises over the next century.

“It's a vicious cycle – warmer temperatures mean clouds trap more heat, which in turn leads to even more warming,” the researcher says. Details of his work appear in the December 10 issue of the top journal Science.

Using NASA grant money, the expert used data collected by instruments aboard the agency's Terra satellite for this investigation.

The Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) instrument, for example, is able to measure just how much energy was trapped underneath clouds over the last decade, as the climate began experiencing wide variations.

To further augment the available datasets, the expert used European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts meteorological analyses. Similar info was also taken from the NASA Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA).

“This work suggests that climate models are doing a pretty decent job simulating how clouds respond to changing climates,” Dessler reveals. He says that some global warming critics now use clouds as a means to dismantle the foundations of climate change.

The critics say that clouds could stabilize the climate, by preventing greenhouse gases emitted by humans and nature from triggering excessive warming.

“Based on my results, I think the chances that clouds will save us from dramatic climate change are pretty low. In fact, my work shows that clouds will likely be amplifying the warming from human activities,” the A&M researcher says.

“I think we can be pretty confident that temperatures will rise by several degrees Celsius over the next century if we continue our present trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions,” he concludes.