Scientists track clouds to study climate
Visit NASA's Cloud Photo of the Month (NASA)
DB: This is Earth and Sky. Clouds are one of the biggest uncertainties in computer models of future global climate change.
JB: Scientists are now keeping close track of clouds from Earth-orbiting satellites. Bruce Wielicki is Principal Investigator for CERES, a project using four instruments on two different satellites to sample every part of the Earth about four times a day. This project tracks what clouds are doing seasonally, year to year, across Earth.
Bruce Wielicki: What we don’t know is what clouds will play as a role in future climate change. We know on average their role is cooling. We’re pretty sure they’ll still be cooling 100 years from now, but if they’re less cooling or more cooling, it can be either a positive or negative feedback on the climate change.
DB: Wielicki said that, to test the accuracy of climate models, the models are used to predict current conditions.
Bruce Wielicki: . . . for example, ask them to do things like when we go from El Ni?os to La Ni?as, do you get the right cloud changes? Or the seasonal cycle: as we go from winter to summer to spring do we get the right cloud changes?
_JB: He said children from some 1,500 schools in 60 countries are now making cloud observations – to help confirm the satellite data. For more on how your school can help, come to earthsky.org. Our thanks today to NASA:_ explore, discover, understand. We’re Block and Byrd for Earth and Sky.
Visit the CERES home page.
Teachers, find out how your school can help NASA scientists collect data on clouds.
Read our interview with Bruce Wielicki
Out thanks to:
Bruce Wielicki
Principal Investigator
CERES Project
NASA Langley Research Center
Hampton, VA
Additional Teacher Resources
NASA: Study of Cloud Ice Crystals May Improve Climate Change Forecasts
Studies of cirrus clouds by some 450 scientists may lead to improved forecasts of future climate change.
NASA: CERES Home Page
The Clouds and the Earth s Radiant Energy System (CERES) experiment is one of the highest priority scientific satellite instruments developed for EOS. CERES products include both solar-reflected and Earth-emitted radiation from the top of the atmosphere to the Earths surface. Cloud properties are determined using simultaneous measurements by other EOS instruments such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Analyses of the CERES data, which build upon the foundation laid by previous missions such as the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE), will lead to a better understanding of the role of clouds and the energy cycle in global climate change.
