Clouds and Their Effects on the Climate System

Abstract

The balance between incoming solar radiation and outgoing infrared radiation determines to a significant degree the Earth's climate. Clouds play a major role in determining the net radiative balance, so any change in cloud coverage or optical properties leads to a new climate state. To study the present and future climate states, the most comprehensive numerical tools currently available are global climate models. A major challenge in these models of Earth's environment is an accurate representation of clouds. (See figure 1.) Covering the Earth on scales as large as millions of square kilometers, airborne water particles transport energy and affect the balance between incoming and outgoing radiation.