NSF Multimedia Package - ‘Clouds: The Wild Card of Climate Change’
Yesterday the National Science Foundation released some videos discussing clouds. From the press release:
As discussions about climate change continue, one critical factor about this phenomenon has remained largely unknown to the public: the important but enigmatic role of clouds in climate change. The role of clouds is important because at any given time about 70 percent of the Earth is covered by clouds. The role of clouds is enigmatic because clouds can exert opposing forces: Some types of clouds help cool the Earth and some types of clouds help warm it. Which effect will win out as our climate continues to change? So far, no one is certain.
Don’t let that last sentence throw you. Clouds will not prevent climate change or significant global warming, as some in the denier circles like to pretend. However, this phenomenon of our atmosphere - clouds - will affect the ultimate extent of global warming, how quickly changes will occur, and the nature of regional impacts (e.g., precipitation.)
Several videos at the link. Here is the introductory piece:
[Hmm, the video shows up in the preview but not in an open window… Here is a direct link to the MP4 file, or you can just go to the first link and watch via the NSF site:
MP4 Video ]