Clouds won't counter global warming Don't count on clouds to
come and rescue us from global warming, says a NASA researcher,
who claims that the minimum amount of warming predicted by
scientists should be revised upwards by half a degree Celsius.
Some climate theories predict that a warmer atmosphere would
evaporate more water forming thicker and more opaque low clouds
over the land which would reflect sunlight and counter the
warming effects of greenhouse. However, research published in
the Journal of Climate provides some of the first substantial
evidence that this is not the case. "This is very important
research because clouds are crucial to our understanding of
climate change. They are the biggest contributor to uncertainty
and yet how clouds behave is not given much attention," comments
Dr Leon Rotstayn of CSIRO's Division of Atmospheric Research. Dr
Anthony Del Genio of NASA's Goddard Insitute for Space Studies
in New York City analysed data from 3,000 individual cloud
"snapshots" - each measuring the