Climate Change Has Shifted The World’s Cloud Cover Over Past 30 Years

Warming global temperatures have altered the distribution of clouds across the Earth in recent decades, according to new research published in the journal Nature.
Global cloud cover.
Mid-latitude storm clouds have shifted polewards, dry subtropical zones have expanded in size, and the tops of clouds have gotten higher as a result of a warmer troposphere and cooler stratosphere, according to the study, which relied on satellite images taken between 1983 and 2009. Researchers said these shifts in cloud cover could further exacerbate climate change. As cloud systems shift toward the poles, where there’s less solar radiation, more sunlight will reach the Earth’s surface near the equator, boosting temperatures. Also, taller, thicker clouds trap more heat. “We now have a thicker blanket, which is also a warming effect,” said Joel Norris, a climate scientist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego who helped lead the study.