Couldn't clouds counteract global warming?

Question

No from what I understand, global warming is causing more precipitation due to the evaporation of sea water because of the warmer temps.......So wouldn't the increased cloud cover shield us from the sun lowering the temp on the surface of the earth?

Answer 1

Yes, studies have shown that lower clouds in the atmosphere do reduce temperatures. Of course, this is a negative effect and the AGW fanatics would never bring this up.

Answer 2

A good question--but the answer is no.  The reason is tha twater vapor in the air has to increase before you get more clouds. And water vapor is itself a greenhouse gas.  In otherwords, wha thappens is this:

The CO2 greenhouse effect warms the air--which causes more water to evaporate into the atmosphere. But that INCREASES the greenhouse effect--making it warmer still.

The clouds tha tform will reflect more heat back into space--but not  enough to offset the increased greenhouse effect the increased water vapor in the air creates.

Answer 3

You've hit on something that I find very interesting. From what I've learned, the excess cloud cover would lower the temps ,but only over the continents. The effects of CO2 causing the oceans to get warmer would continue.  Over a period of time,the continents could begin to get covered in ice. If you notice,during the "Ice Ages",the oceans were ice free. So what could happen is, that the precipitation amounts will increase,but temps over the continents will fall,leading to "Continental Glaciation".  Normally,the natural cycles of the Earth's climate take thousands of years to form an "Ice Age".  With the effects of A.G.W.,that could happen in just a generation!  I don't 'believe' in A.G.W.,I understand it!

Answer 4

yes they could.  I heard a 2-3% increase in low cloud cover could reflect enough light to negate the global warming effects.  Im thinking these excess clouds from global warming would form over the ocean, and probably die out over the ocean.  Keep in mind, when water falls out of the atmosphere, it cools the air.  We dont know the effects, its hard to calculate such a thing,  they dont have all the information, and clouds reflectivity and efficiency probably vary between different cloud types.

Answer 5

global warming doesn't exist! THe earth goes throguh hwating cycles. First it gets colder and the it gets hotter and then its gets colder, and then it gets hotter.......

Answer 6

It's impossible to say at this point.  Clouds are a tricky component of our climate, because they can cause warming by trapping heat and they can cause cooling by reflecting sunlight.

Skeptical scientist Richard Lindzen has proposed that global warming will increase evaporation which will increase cloudcover, which will reflect more sunlight and offset some warming.

However, it's trickier than that. For example, as the planet warms, clouds form sooner and rain faster, and also are burned off faster, so as a result they're not around very long to reflect sunlight.

Additionally, different types of clouds have different effects. Wispy cirrus clouds heat the air beneath, while flat stratus clouds are good at keeping the air blow them cool.

NASA's Bruce Wielicky has researched clouds at the tropics and found that they are forming and raining more quickly, leaving the tropics drier and less cloudy as a whole.

Let's just say it's something we certainly shouldn't count on to save us from global warming, because it probably won't.

Answer 7

No.

Warmer air causes more evaporation and therefore more water vapor in the air. But warmer air HOLDS more water vapor too, so although the specific humidity (i.e. dewpoint) rises as the temperature rises, the RELATIVE humidity stays the same. Since you need high relative humidity to make a cloud, you don't make any more clouds that way.

When that warmer air with more water rises, it cools, and when it cools below its dewpoint a cloud forms, and eventually it rains. Since that air contains more water, it rains more. But it does not rain more frequently. You just get more water from the same amount of cloud.

That's why an Indian monsoon drops ten inches of rain, while a thunderstorm in Saskatchewan drops a few tenths of an inch.

Answer 8

That has to be the overall feedback.  Water vapor is the most abundant and important greenhouse gas, and since heat evaporates more water that makes more water vapor, etc. our oceans should have evaporated a long time ago.  A positive runaway feedback.

But they don't.

As has been noted, clouds are "tricky".  That means no one has a clue exactly how they interact with climate to amplify or mitigate the greenhouse effect.  And they don't support AGW, so it easiest to just sweep it under the rug.

And computer models don't model clouds, because that is too difficult.  So very likely the most important variable in all this climate work is clouds ... and it is not addressed.

Answer 9

There is actually data that what you suggest might happen.  The clouds would reflect more of the sunlight during the daylight hours.  During the night however, they would also hold in more of the heat that had gotten through during the daylight hours.  It's a complicated relationship, and different models have the clouds being responsible for different amounts of reflection and "blanketing."

As I was growing up, we knew to expect a harder freeze if the sky was clear than we would have if we had cloud cover.  The expression was, "clear as a bell and colder than h**l."