Clouds cool Earth’s surface by reflecting incoming sunlight. Clouds warm Earth’s surface by absorbing heat emitted from the surface and re-radiating it back down toward the surface. Clouds warm or cool Earth’s atmosphere by absorbing heat emitted from the surface and radiating it to space., and more items.
Clouds cool the planet by reflecting sunlight back into space, much as they chill a summer’s day at the beach. Clouds warmthe Earth by absorbing infrared radiation emitted from the surface and reradiating it back down. The process traps heat like a blanket and slows the rate at which the surface can cool.
Do clouds keep earth warmer?
Those high, wispy clouds actually keep Earth warm, like a blanket, by preventing heat from escaping into space. Dr. Platnick uses NASA’s Aqua satellite to determine the height of clouds, and other properties of clouds as well – like what’s inside a cloud, how much water they have, whether the cloud is primarily liquid or ice.
Do clouds block heat from the Sun?
However, some heat from the Sun does get down to Earth. Clouds can trap that heat from the Sun. At night, when there’s no sunlight, clouds are still trapping heat. It’s sort of like clouds are wrapping Earth in a big, warm blanket. During the day, clouds can make the temperature on Earth cooler by blocking heat from the Sun.
You could be thinking “How much do clouds cool the Earth’s atmosphere?”
Clouds reflect about 50 W m-2 of solar radiation up into space, and radiate about 30 W m-2 down to the ground, so the net effect is 20 W m-2 cooling on average.
This is what my research found. but it’s a bit complicated: Clouds can both cool down and warm up the temperatures on Earth. Clouds can block light and heat from the Sun, making Earth’s temperature cooler. You’ve probably noticed this kind of cooldown on a cloudy day.
How do clouds affect the Earth’s surface?
Clouds within a mile or so of Earth’s surface tend to cool more than they warm. These low, thicker clouds mostly reflect the Sun’s heat. This cools Earth’s surface. Clouds high up in the atmosphere have the opposite effect: They tend to warm Earth more than they cool. High, thin clouds trap some of the Sun’s heat.
This of course begs the inquiry “What would happen if there were more clouds on Earth?”
If more high clouds were to form, more heat energy radiating from the surface and lower atmosphere toward space would be trapped in the atmosphere, and Earth’s average surface temperature would climb. Clouds impact temperatures in other ways as well.
What type of energy do clouds emit?
Clouds emit energy in proportion to their temperature. Low, warm clouds emit more thermal energy than high, cold clouds. This image illustrates that low clouds emit about the same amount of thermal energy as Earth’s surface does. This is most clearly seen over the Pacific Ocean.
Do low clouds emit more thermal energy than high clouds?
Low, warm clouds emit more thermal energy than high, cold clouds. This image illustrates that low clouds emit about the same amount of thermal energy as Earth’s surface does. This is most clearly seen over the Pacific Ocean. The water is nearly white, while the low marine clouds are pale gray, only slightly cooler.