14 DAY TRIAL // Clouds may be interacting with each other in the sky, a new investigation finds. Researchers believe that rain clouds may be forming synchronous patterns, depending on signals clouds in a cloud field get from other such atmospheric structures. The basic principle is the same underlying the communication pattern fireflies employ, the team says.
Fireflies and crickets change their behavior depending on the signals they send to each other, via light and chirping, respectively. In the new study, which appears in the latest issue of the esteemed scientific journal Nature, a group of experts underlines the importance cloud studies have on understanding our planet's climate.
“Clouds organize in distinct patterns that are fingerprints of myriad physical processes. Precipitation can generate fascinating honeycomb-like patterns that are clearly visible from satellites,” says expert Graham Feingold, the leader of the new research effort.
“Cloud fields organize in such a way that their components ‘communicate’ with one another and produce regular, periodic rainfall events,” adds Feingold, who is based at the Earth System Research Laboratory, in Boulder, Colorado.
The facility is operated by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The main conclusion of the new study is that a very large cloud system can exhibit synchronized rain patterns, due to the signals clouds send amongst each other. This is the only the latest example of self-synchronization occurring in nature, but not the first.
The data seems to indicate that suspended particles called aerosols are basically the main carriers of these so-called signals. Researchers are currently studying how these minute particles influence rain patterns, and also how they act as an important factor in climate change.
Investigators focused their attention on studying cellular cloud systems, which featured a nearly perfect hexagonal structure. The centers of the individual hexagons within are clear, whereas the walls are made of clouds. Constant rearrangement occurs as the walls and empty cells continuously switch places.
“Together, these analyses demonstrated that the rearrangement is a result of precipitation, and that clouds belonging to this kind of system rain almost in unison,” Feingold adds.
“Our work also suggests that we should expand our thinking about interactions between aerosols and clouds. Integrating our current focus on fundamental physical processes with broader studies on system dynamics could give us a more complete understanding of climate change,” he concludes.
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