According to results obtained from a study accomplished by the University of Auckland and based on a NASA satellite data there has been a decreasing trend of about 30 meters on the average cloud heights during the past 10 years. This is due to fewer clouds occurring at heigh altitudes.
In spite of some interruptions coinciding with El Niño and La Niña events in the Pacific, there's an steady drop every year. This fall would entail bigger amounts of radiation that could lead to negative effects related to global warming.
The analyzed data came from NASA's Terra Satellite, a scientific research satellite orbiting the Earth since 1999 in a Sun-synchronous way and flagship of the Earth Observing System (EOS).
“This is the first time we have been able to accurately measure changes in global cloud height and, while the record is too short to be definitive, it provides just a hint that something quite important might be going on,” says lead researcher Professor Roger Davies.
“Clouds are one of the biggest uncertainties in our ability to predict future climate. Cloud height is extremely difficult to model and therefore hasn’t been considered in models of future climate. For the first time we have been able to accurately measure the height of clouds on a global basis, and the challenge now will be to incorporate that information into climate models. It will provide a check on how well the models are doing, and may ultimately lead to better ones.” he explained.
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