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Climate mystery shrouded in clouds

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-24 09:00

DELFT, Netherlands -- Wearing 3-D viewing goggles, scientists peer at virtual pink, blue and purple clouds billowing in cyberspace at a research laboratory in the Dutch city of Delft.

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By tracking how particles move in and around computer-simulated clouds, they hope to shed light on one of the unknowns of climate forecasting: how these masses of water droplets and ice crystals influence changing temperatures.

The research was undertaken because of the growing urgency for scientists to improve ways of forecasting climate change.

Researcher Thijs Heus, a former student at the laboratory, explained that he used the simulations to chart data such as the speed, temperature and lifespan of clouds. "We number the clouds and we track them from their infancy through their entire life cycle," he said.

Using powerful computer technology and satellite data, the scientists at Delft hope to gain a more accurate picture of how clouds react to climate change.

"There is enormous uncertainty about what clouds will do, and how they will respond to a changing climate and that is a major impediment for climate predictions," said Harm Jonker, associate professor at the university.

Jonker said it was unclear, for example, whether there would be more or fewer of low clouds such as cumulus in warmer conditions, which would affect the rate of global warming because of their role in reflecting sunlight away from the earth.

"In a warmer climate, if there is more evaporation, that could lead to more of the lower clouds, which could diminish the effects of climate warming," said Jonker.

He added warm air could hold more water vapor than cold air before it formed clouds, so there might be fewer low clouds as the earth heated up, which would accelerate global warming.

Reuters