Cloud cover

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Total cloud cover fraction averaged over the years 1981-2010 from the CHELSA-BIOCLIM+ data set Total cloud cover.png
Total cloud cover fraction averaged over the years 1981-2010 from the CHELSA-BIOCLIM+ data set
Satellite image based largely on observations from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on July 11, 2005, of Earth's cloud cover. MODIS Map.jpg
Satellite image based largely on observations from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on July 11, 2005, of Earth's cloud cover.

Cloud cover (also known as cloudiness, cloudage, or cloud amount) refers to the fraction of the sky obscured by clouds on average when observed from a particular location. [2] Okta is the usual unit for measurement of the cloud cover. The cloud cover is correlated to the sunshine duration as the least cloudy locales are the sunniest ones while the cloudiest areas are the least sunny places, as clouds can block sunlight, especially at sunrise and sunset where sunlight is already limited.

Contents

Partial cloud cover over the North Atlantic Ocean. Cloud cover over the North Atlantic Ocean 3.JPG
Partial cloud cover over the North Atlantic Ocean.
Complete cloud coverage over France Cloud cover over France.jpg
Complete cloud coverage over France

The global cloud cover averages around 67-68%, though it ranges from 56% to 73% depending on the minimum optical depth considered (lower when optical depth is large, and higher when it is low, such that subvisible cirrus clouds are counted). [3] Average cloud cover is around 72% over the oceans, with low seasonal variation, and about 55% above land, with significant seasonal variation. [4]

Role in the climate system

Clouds play multiple critical roles in the climate system and diurnal cycle. In particular, being bright objects in the visible part of the solar spectrum, they efficiently reflect light to space and thus contribute to the cooling of the planet, as well as trapping remaining heat at night. Cloud cover thus plays an important role in the energetic balance of the atmosphere and a variation of it is a factor and consequence of and to the climate change expected by recent studies. [5]

Variability

The average cloud cover of the Earth, 2005-2013. Colors range from blue (no clouds) to white (totally cloudy). [6] (click for more detail)

Cloud cover values only vary by 3% from year to year averages, whereas the local, day to day variability in cloud amount typically rises to 30% over the globe. Most data sets agree on the fact that the land is covered by 10-15% less cloud than the oceans. This is due to the seas being covered with water, meaning much more evaporation is possible. [3]

Lastly, there is a latitudinal variation in the cloud cover, such that around 20°N there are regions with 10% lower cloudiness than the global mean. Similar variation (15%) is found at 20°S. This is because of the absence of equatorial effects and strong winds reducing cloud formation.[ specify ] On the other hand, in the storm regions of the Southern Hemisphere midlatitudes were found to have with 15–25% more cloudiness than the global mean at 60°S. [3] On average, about 67% of the entire Earth is cloud-covered at any moment. [7]

On a continental scale, it can be noticed based upon a long-term satellite recording of cloudiness data that on a year-mean basis, Europe, North America, South America and Asia are dominated by cloudy skies due to the westerlies, monsoon or other effects. On the other hand, Africa, the Middle East and Australia are dominated by clear skies due to their continentality and aridity. [8]

On a regional scale, some exceptionally humid areas of Earth experience cloudy conditions virtually all time such as South America's Amazon Rainforest while some highly arid areas experience clear-sky conditions virtually all the time such as Africa's Sahara Desert. [8]

Altitude of typical cloud cover

Although clouds can exist within a wide range of altitudes, typical cloud cover has a base at approximately 4,000m and extends up to an altitude of about 5,000m. [9] Clouds height can vary depending on latitude; with cloud cover in polar latitudes being slightly lower and in tropical regions the cloud cover may extend up to 8,000m. The type of cloud is also a factor, with low cumulus clouds sitting at 300–1,500m while high cirrus clouds at 5,500-6,500m.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Climate</span> Statistics of weather conditions in a given region over long periods

Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorological variables that are commonly measured are temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, and precipitation. In a broader sense, climate is the state of the components of the climate system, including the atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere and biosphere and the interactions between them. The climate of a location is affected by its latitude, longitude, terrain, altitude, land use and nearby water bodies and their currents.

Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmosphere, the troposphere, just below the stratosphere. Weather refers to day-to-day temperature, precipitation, and other atmospheric conditions, whereas climate is the term for the averaging of atmospheric conditions over longer periods of time. When used without qualification, "weather" is generally understood to mean the weather of Earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cirrus cloud</span> Genus of atmospheric cloud

Cirrus is a genus of high cloud made of ice crystals. Cirrus clouds typically appear delicate and wispy with white strands. Cirrus are usually formed when warm, dry air rises, causing water vapor deposition onto rocky or metallic dust particles at high altitudes. Globally, they form anywhere between 4,000 and 20,000 meters above sea level, with the higher elevations usually in the tropics and the lower elevations in more polar regions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cloud</span> Visible mass of liquid droplets or frozen crystals suspended in the atmosphere

In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may compose the droplets and crystals. On Earth, clouds are formed as a result of saturation of the air when it is cooled to its dew point, or when it gains sufficient moisture from an adjacent source to raise the dew point to the ambient temperature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Altostratus cloud</span> A type of middle-altitude cloud

Altostratus is a middle-altitude cloud genus made up of water droplets, ice crystals, or a mixture of the two. Altostratus clouds are formed when large masses of warm, moist air rise, causing water vapor to condense. Altostratus clouds are usually gray or blueish featureless sheets, although some variants have wavy or banded bases. The sun can be seen through thinner altostratus clouds, but thicker layers can be quite opaque.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Precipitation</span> Product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity

In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls from clouds due to gravitational pull. The main forms of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel and hail. Precipitation occurs when a portion of the atmosphere becomes saturated with water vapor, so that the water condenses and "precipitates" or falls. Thus, fog and mist are not precipitation but colloids, because the water vapor does not condense sufficiently to precipitate. Two processes, possibly acting together, can lead to air becoming saturated: cooling the air or adding water vapor to the air. Precipitation forms as smaller droplets coalesce via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud. Short, intense periods of rain in scattered locations are called showers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nimbus program</span> Second-generation U.S. robotic spacecraft

The Nimbus satellites were second-generation U.S. robotic spacecraft launched between 1964 and 1978 used for meteorological research and development. The spacecraft were designed to serve as stabilized, Earth-oriented platforms for the testing of advanced systems to sense and collect atmospheric science data. Seven Nimbus spacecraft have been launched into near-polar, Sun-synchronous orbits beginning with Nimbus 1 on August 28, 1964. On board the Nimbus satellites are various instrumentation for imaging, sounding, and other studies in different spectral regions. The Nimbus satellites were launched aboard Thor-Agena rockets and Delta rockets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roy Spencer (meteorologist)</span>

Roy Warren Spencer is an American meteorologist. He is a principal research scientist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and the U.S. Science Team leader for the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) on NASA's Aqua satellite. He has served as senior scientist for climate studies at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. He is known for his satellite-based temperature monitoring work, for which he was awarded the American Meteorological Society's Special Award. Spencer disagrees with the scientific consensus that most global warming in the past 50 years is the result of human activity, instead believing that anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions have caused some warming, but that influence is small compared to natural variations in global average cloud cover.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radiative forcing</span> Difference between solar irradiance absorbed by the Earth and energy radiated back to space

Radiative forcing is a concept used in climate science to quantify the change in energy balance in the Earth's atmosphere caused by various factors, such as concentrations of greenhouse gases, aerosols, and changes in solar radiation. In more technical terms, it is "the change in the net, downward minus upward, radiative flux due to a change in an external driver of climate change." These external drivers are distinguished from feedbacks and variability that are internal to the climate system, and that further influence the direction and magnitude of imbalance.

The Earth Observing System (EOS) is a program of NASA comprising a series of artificial satellite missions and scientific instruments in Earth orbit designed for long-term global observations of the land surface, biosphere, atmosphere, and oceans. Since the early 1970s, NASA has been developing its Earth Observing System, launching a series of Landsat satellites in the decade. Some of the first included passive microwave imaging in 1972 through the Nimbus 5 satellite. Following the launch of various satellite missions, the conception of the program began in the late 1980s and expanded rapidly through the 1990s. Since the inception of the program, it has continued to develop, including; land, sea, radiation and atmosphere. Collected in a system known as EOSDIS, NASA uses this data in order to study the progression and changes in the biosphere of Earth. The main focus of this data collection surrounds climatic science. The program is the centrepiece of NASA's Earth Science Enterprise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atmospheric physics</span> The application of physics to the study of the atmosphere

Within the atmospheric sciences, atmospheric physics is the application of physics to the study of the atmosphere. Atmospheric physicists attempt to model Earth's atmosphere and the atmospheres of the other planets using fluid flow equations, radiation budget, and energy transfer processes in the atmosphere. In order to model weather systems, atmospheric physicists employ elements of scattering theory, wave propagation models, cloud physics, statistical mechanics and spatial statistics which are highly mathematical and related to physics. It has close links to meteorology and climatology and also covers the design and construction of instruments for studying the atmosphere and the interpretation of the data they provide, including remote sensing instruments. At the dawn of the space age and the introduction of sounding rockets, aeronomy became a subdiscipline concerning the upper layers of the atmosphere, where dissociation and ionization are important.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sea surface temperature</span> Water temperature close to the oceans surface

Sea surface temperature (SST), or ocean surface temperature, is the ocean temperature close to the surface. The exact meaning of surface varies in the literature and in practice. It is usually between 1 millimetre (0.04 in) and 20 metres (70 ft) below the sea surface. Sea surface temperatures greatly modify air masses in the Earth's atmosphere within a short distance of the shore. Local areas of heavy snow can form in bands downwind of warm water bodies within an otherwise cold air mass. Warm sea surface temperatures can develop and strengthen cyclones over the Ocean. Experts call this process tropical cyclogenesis. Tropical cyclones can also cause a cool wake. This is due to turbulent mixing of the upper 30 metres (100 ft) of the ocean. Sea surface temperature changes during the day. This is like the air above it, but to a lesser degree. There is less variation in sea surface temperature on breezy days than on calm days. Ocean currents, such as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation, can affect sea surface temperatures over several decades. Thermohaline circulation has a major impact on average sea surface temperature throughout most of the world's oceans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earth's energy budget</span> Accounting of the energy flows which determine Earths surface temperature and drive its climate

Earth's energy budget accounts for the balance between the energy that Earth receives from the Sun and the energy the Earth loses back into outer space. Smaller energy sources, such as Earth's internal heat, are taken into consideration, but make a tiny contribution compared to solar energy. The energy budget also accounts for how energy moves through the climate system. Because the Sun heats the equatorial tropics more than the polar regions, received solar irradiance is unevenly distributed. As the energy seeks equilibrium across the planet, it drives interactions in Earth's climate system, i.e., Earth's water, ice, atmosphere, rocky crust, and all living things. The result is Earth's climate.

This is a list of meteorology topics. The terms relate to meteorology, the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and forecasting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Outgoing longwave radiation</span> Energy transfer mechanism which enables planetary cooling

In climate science, longwave radiation (LWR) is electromagnetic thermal radiation emitted by Earth's surface, atmosphere, and clouds. It may also be referred to as terrestrial radiation. This radiation is in the infrared portion of the spectrum, but is distinct from the shortwave (SW) near-infrared radiation found in sunlight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Global Energy and Water Exchanges</span>

The Global Energy and Water Exchanges Project is an international research project and a core project of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP).

Robert Donald Cess was a professor of atmospheric sciences at Stony Brook University. He was born in Portland, Oregon. Cess earned his bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from Oregon State University and his master's degree from Purdue University in Indiana in 1956. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh in 1959. He is a recognized leader in the fields of climate change and atmospheric radiation transfer. His research interests involve modeling of climate feedbacks that can either amplify or diminish global climate change, and interpreting surface and satellite remote sensing data.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Temperature anomaly</span>

Temperature anomaly is the difference, positive or negative, of a temperature from a base or reference value, normally chosen as an average of temperatures over a certain reference or base period. In atmospheric sciences, the average temperature is commonly calculated over a period of at least 30 years over a homogeneous geographic region, or globally over the entire planet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthropogenic cloud</span> Cloud induced or caused by human activity

A homogenitus, anthropogenic or artificial cloud is a cloud induced by human activity. Although most clouds covering the sky have a purely natural origin, since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the use of fossil fuels and water vapor and other gases emitted by nuclear, thermal and geothermal power plants yield significant alterations of the local weather conditions. These new atmospheric conditions can thus enhance cloud formation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graeme Stephens</span> Australian ecologist and professor in California

Graeme Leslie Stephens is director of the center for climate sciences at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology and professor of earth observation the University of Reading.

References

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  2. Huschke, Ralph E. (1970) [1959]. "Cloud cover". Glossary of Meteorology (2nd ed.). Boston: American Meteorological Society . Retrieved 2013-08-24.
  3. 1 2 3 Stubenrauch, C. J.; Rossow, W. B.; Kinne, S.; Ackerman, S.; Cesana, G.; Chepfer, H; Di Girolamo, L.; Getzewich, B.; Guignard, A.; Heidinger, A.; Maddux, B. C.; Menzel, W.P; Minnis, P.; Pearl, C.; Platnick, S.; Poulsen, C.; Reidi, J.; Sun-Mack, S; Walther, A.; Winker, D.; Zeng, S.; Zhao, G. (2013). "Assessment of global cloud datasets from satellites: Project and Database initiated by GEWEX Radiation Panel" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 94 (7): 1031–1049. Bibcode:2013BAMS...94.1031S. doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-12-00117.1. S2CID   12145499.
  4. King, Michael D.; Platnick, Steven; Menzel, W. Paul; Ackerman, Steven A.; Hubanks, Paul A. (2013). "Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Clouds Observed by MODIS Onboard the Terra and Aqua Satellites". IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). 51 (7): 3826–3852. Bibcode:2013ITGRS..51.3826K. doi: 10.1109/tgrs.2012.2227333 . hdl: 2060/20120010368 . ISSN   0196-2892.
  5. IPCC Third Assessment Report Chapter 7. Physical Climate Processes and Feedbacks (Atmospheric Processes and Feedbacks 7.2) (Report). International Panel on Climate Change. Archived from the original on August 5, 2013. Retrieved August 24, 2013. It has extensive coverage of cloud-climate interactions
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  7. "Cloudy Earth". NASA Earth Observatory. 2020-07-07. Retrieved 2022-01-29.
  8. 1 2 https://images.slideplayer.com/17/5328401/slides/slide_4.jpg [ bare URL image file ]
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