Decline in Low-Level Clouds Will Amplify Warming, Study Finds

A warming climate and higher C02 levels will shrink the size of low cloud cover and allow more solar radiation to reach the planet, causing temperatures to rise ever higher, according to a new study. Using a climate modeling technology to simulate the amount and pattern of low-level clouds over the eastern Pacific, researchers at the University of Hawaii at Manoa found that projected increases in carbon emissions by the end of the century could reduce cloud cover by as much as 10 percent, according to the study published in the Journal of Climate. “If this holds, we will find ourselves at the higher end of [temperature] predictions,” said team member Ralf Bennartz, a researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. According to climate scientists, the doubling of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere could cause temperatures to rise anywhere from 2 to 4.5 degrees C. Among the more confounding variables in modeling projected temperature increases has been the effects of clouds.