14 DAY TRIAL // Since the beginning of time, mankind has noticed that skies somehow appear to be a lot brighter on portions around clouds, even much more so than perfectly clear skies elsewhere. Thus far, climatologists and planetary scientists have been unable to say exactly why this is happening, but now they believe that the phenomenon might be triggered by something called the “halo” effect. This effect makes sunlight literally bounce off the clouds and the particles that make them and disperse into the upper layers of the atmosphere, creating the bright and luminous skies.
Previously, researchers held that the more intense luminescence in the regions of the sky around clouds were not related to the atmospheric formations at all, and that varying intensities were the result of different concentrations of particles in the upper atmosphere, through which sunlight was unable to pass with full force. Despite the fact that the discovery may not look like much, it's actually very important, as it raises a warning signal on the actual state of our environment.
That is to say, if particles aren't the things that filter light, then it means that almost all climate change models thus far created have been wrong, and not in a good way. Namely, all of them have taken into account high amounts of particles in the upper atmosphere, to help filter out some of the light and heat from the sun, but it would now seem like this shield we have hoped for doesn't exist at all. This means that more light and heat radiation reaches the Earth than previously thought, and that climate models need an overhaul.
In addition to these finds, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center researchers Tamas Varnai and Alexander Marshak have used data from the MODIS satellite to assess that a portion of the sky in the Atlantic, just off the coast of the UK, is increasingly brighter when clouds are thicker, and that also more luminescence has been discovered on that side of the clouds where the sun falls with most force. “It's essentially extra energy bouncing off the clouds that enhances the glow of the clear sky,” Marshak said.
“Overestimating aerosol density means that climate models will be wrong if they assume a certain amount of aerosol is needed, when in fact it is less. Given how much climate modeling relies on satellite data such as this, it is important that we figure out how to interpret it correctly,” Varnai concluded.