A decade of data discloses influence of clouds on tropical energy balance
Friday, March 29, 2013 - 06:30
in Earth & Climate
(Phys.org) —A cloud's class and status matters to the climate. That's what researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found when they separated tropical clouds into seven categories. Clouds with low bases are more influential than high clouds because the low-base clouds have a greater effect on the amount of solar energy that reaches the ground. They also compared the clouds' effects on the tropical energy balance using data collected from ten years of ground-based observations at U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sponsored locations in the tropical western Pacific region. Their findings show that cloud type is more important than previous satellite-based studies suggest.