Cloudy dilemma cleared up

Clouds contribute to global warming.

The world's storm tracks are shifting polewards and clouds are rising higher in the atmosphere, two trends that are likely to exacerbate global warming, US scientists say.

New analysis of satellite data for the 1982-2009 period by California's Scripps Institution of Oceanography has resolved what the researchers say is one of the biggest uncertainties involving climate science.

Clouds play contradictory roles in the climate. They have a cooling effect because they reflect solar radiation back to space but they also have a warming role by restricting the thermal infrared radiation from the Earth.

"A small cloud change can have a substantial effect on Earth's radiation budget," Joel Norris, Professor of Climate and Atmospheric Sciences at Scripps, told Fairfax Media.

Read Peter Hannam’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Global warming tidings get an added boost after cloudy climate issue cleared up.”