Cooling effect of clouds ‘underestimated’ by climate models, says new study

Jun 10, 2021

SDG 13: Climate Action Climate Change Climate Indicators

An existing climate model has been updated with a more realistic simulation of rainfall from “warm” clouds. Image: Unsplash/Jason Blackeye

Ayesha Tandon

Science Journalist, Carbon Brief

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$Warm-rain fraction in the present-day climate (top) and increase in the warm-rain fraction in a 4C warmer climate (bottom).$

Warm-rain fraction in the present-day climate (top) and increase in the warm-rain fraction in a 4C warmer climate (bottom). Image: Mülmenstädt et al (2021)

Probability of rainfall from warm clouds from the satellite data (grey), the original reference model (red) and the edited model (yellow). Latitude is shown on the x axis and probability of precipitation from warm clouds is shown on the y axis. Source: Mülmenstädt et al (2021).

Probability of rainfall from warm clouds from the satellite data (grey), the original reference model (red) and the edited model (yellow). Image: Mülmenstädt et al (2021)

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