Climate Change - Clouds

This page presents notes on scientific published articles related to Clouds.

Article: "The importance of the diurnal and annual cycle of air traffic for contrail radiative forcing." Air traffic condensation trails (contrails) have a small net atmospheric warming effect, trapping more outgoing longwave radiation than reflecting incoming solar radiation. Nighttime flights for a site in southeast England account for 25 percent of daily air traffic, but contribute 60-80 percent of contrail forcing. Winter (December to February) flights are 22 percent of traffic, but contribute 50 percent to annual mean contrail forcing. Shifting air traffic from night to day would minimize climate effect of contrails. Source: Nature, Volume 441, Number 7095. Date: 2006 June 15

Article: "Smoke and Pollution Aerosol Effection Cloud Cover." Increase in aerosol concentration causes increase in cloud cover. Source: Science, Volume 313, Number 5787. Date: 2006 August 4

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Last updated: 2010 Apr 8.
Global Warming and Climate Change
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