Weird one, I've been looking into the circumstances around the UAE storms, in itself quite interesting.

came across this site
https://zoom.earth/maps/satellite-hd/ 

Ive seen this kind of thing before, its always interesting to look at.  One thing stood out to me... the earth looks more cloudy than usual.

This got me thinking, and id like to discuss it with you:
1. Is there a way to track global cloud cover
2. In the era we are in with global warming, are we likely to see more cloud cover
3. There are insulation properties to cloud cover, that can work to and against the benefit of global temps.  ie holds the heat in at night, but prevents scorching during the day.  Is the net benefit cooler, or warmer?

 

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3. There are insulation properties to cloud cover, that can work to and against the benefit of global temps.  ie holds the heat in at night, but prevents scorching during the day.  Is the net benefit cooler, or warmer?

 

Its a good point. Cloudier skies lead to warmer nights, and warmer nights, at least here in NW Europe and in the US, have contributed more to recent warming than warmer days.

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Weird one, I've been looking into the circumstances around the UAE storms, in itself quite interesting.

came across this site
https://zoom.earth/maps/satellite-hd/ 

Ive seen this kind of thing before, its always interesting to look at.  One thing stood out to me... the earth looks more cloudy than usual.

This got me thinking, and id like to discuss it with you:
1. Is there a way to track global cloud cover
2. In the era we are in with global warming, are we likely to see more cloud cover
3. There are insulation properties to cloud cover, that can work to and against the benefit of global temps.  ie holds the heat in at night, but prevents scorching during the day.  Is the net benefit cooler, or warmer?

 

I think the basic principle that warmer air holds more water vapour must mean the potential is there for increased cloud cover.

The impact of cloud cover on temperature is, I think, very complicated, varying by cloud type and height.

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Plus, you can throw into the mix, something like an extra 10% water vapour thrown up high into the atmosphere by the Tongan eruption.

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I think the basic principle that warmer air holds more water vapour must mean the potential is there for increased cloud cover.

The impact of cloud cover on temperature is, I think, very complicated, varying by cloud type and height.

I believe that is correct. There is a competition between the Greenhouse Effect exerted by water vapour which will increase temperature and the albedo of clouds where a certain proportion of the incident solar radiation is reflected back into space before it reaches the earth's surface. The total amount of cloud cover (which will probably increase as temperatures rise) AND the prevailing types and heights of clouds both have a profound effect

IIRC this is the area of difficulty that leads to the biggest amount of uncertainty when trying to project global temperature change we currently observe into the future decades of this century

 

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If it being warmer means that there is more water vapour in the air then doesn't it also logically follow that there should be more rain? it should be relatively easy to determine, just look at the yearly rainfal totals for multiple locations around the world. However I've never heard of such a study being done.

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If it being warmer means that there is more water vapour in the air then doesn't it also logically follow that there should be more rain? it should be relatively easy to determine, just look at the yearly rainfal totals for multiple locations around the world. However I've never heard of such a study being done.

Given the number of record rainfall events all over the planet in the past 12-18 months, I think it's very likely there's been more rainfall of late - though whether that's possible to quantify I don't know.   There have, of course, also been areas that have seen much less rain than normal.

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If it being warmer means that there is more water vapour in the air then doesn't it also logically follow that there should be more rain? it should be relatively easy to determine, just look at the yearly rainfal totals for multiple locations around the world. However I've never heard of such a study being done.

Here’s a chart for the US, covering the 48 states:  https://www.epa.gov/system/files/images/2022-07/precipitation_download1_2022.png 


Here’s the global one: 
https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/climate-change-indicators-us-and-global-precipitation#:~:text=Since%201901%2C%20global%20precipitation%20has,of%200.20%20inches%20per%20decade .

The trend in the US is stark; the global one looks less so until you check the scale of the graph, I think.

But it’s also about rainfall intensity and extreme rainfall events and associated flooding are also on the rise.

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