{"id":366010,"date":"2025-02-13T18:09:58","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T17:09:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=366010"},"modified":"2025-02-13T18:10:00","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T17:10:00","slug":"underestimating-clouds-a-climate-mistake-we-cannot-afford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=366010","title":{"rendered":"Underestimating Clouds: A Climate Mistake We Cannot Afford"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Vijay Jayaraj<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carbon dioxide (CO\u2082) has been predominantly portrayed as the chief culprit driving global warming. For decades, this misconception has guided international policies, prompted ambitious targets for reducing CO2<\/sub> emissions and driven a shift from reliable and affordable energy resources like coal, oil, and natural gas toward problematic wind and solar sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, this theory overlooks important factors that influence Earth\u2019s climate system, including a critical variable in the climate system \u2013 the role of clouds, which remains woefully underestimated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent work by physicists W. A. van Wijngaarden and William Happer challenges this prevailing paradigm: Their new paper, Radiation Transport in Clouds<\/a>, suggest clouds affect atmospheric temperature more than CO2<\/sub> because they have a greater impact on the comparative amounts of solar energy entering Earth\u2019s atmosphere and escaping to outer space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Overshadowed Influence of Clouds<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clouds simultaneously reflect incoming sunlight back to space (cooling the Earth) and trap outgoing heat (warming the Earth). This dual nature makes clouds both powerful and perplexing players in our climate system. The net effect of clouds on climate is a balance between these opposing influences, thus a central component of the Earth\u2019s energy budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent study by van Wijngaarden and Happer, titled \u201cRadiation Transport in Clouds,\u201d<\/a> delves into this complexity. The 2025 paper says the radiation effects of clouds can easily negate or amplify the impact of CO2<\/sub>. The researchers highlight that clouds have a more pronounced effect on Earth\u2019s radiation budget than greenhouse gases like CO\u2082.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, their research reveals that a modest decrease in low cloud cover could significantly increase solar heating of the Earth\u2019s surface. In comparison, a doubling of atmospheric CO2<\/sub> concentrations reduces radiation to space by a mere 1%: \u201cInstantaneously doubling CO\u2082 concentrations, a 100% increase, only decreases radiation to space by about 1%. To increase solar heating of the Earth by a few percent, low cloud cover only needs to decrease by a few percent.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This stark contrast highlights the disproportionate influence of cloud dynamics compared to CO2<\/sub> fluctuations. Most state-of-art climate models are still in their infancy. We need more accurate measurements of clouds\u2019 properties and their influence on the electromagnetic components of solar radiation if they are to be useful inputs for climate models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Implications for Energy Policy and Reliability<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Current strategies assume a direct and dominant link between CO2<\/sub> emissions and global temperatures to justify aggressive \u201cdecarbonization\u201d efforts and an increase in the use of solar and wind energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, solar and wind are inherently intermittent, rendering them unreliable and very expensive as components of a power grid. The infrastructure required to support these technologies entails substantial upfront investments, higher operating costs and increasing utility bills for consumers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blackouts, energy shortages and price spikes are becoming increasingly common in regions that have prematurely decommissioned fossil fuel plants without adequate backup solutions. This trend disproportionately affects vulnerable populations, exacerbating energy poverty and hindering economic development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The major justification for using solar and wind has been that they counter global warming by reducing CO2<\/sub> emissions from burning fossil fuels. If small variations in cloud cover actually overwhelm the effects of CO2<\/sub>, then the climate\u2019s sensitivity to greenhouse gases is being significantly overestimated. This has profound implications for policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attributing global warming predominantly to CO\u2082 emissions from the use of fossil fuels is a gross oversimplification. While CO2<\/sub> undoubtedly has a warming effect, it is relatively modest and beneficial, mainly moderating the difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures. On the other hand, clouds, with their multifaceted interactions and feedbacks, represent a critical and underappreciated component of this puzzle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The findings of van Wijngaarden and Happer highlight a broader issue within climate science: the tendency to oversimplify complex systems for the sake of political expediency. As the global energy landscape continues to evolve, it is imperative that decisions be based on sound science rather than political dogma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The time has come to reassess our approach to both climate science and energy policy. The stakes are too high to continue down a path of destructive policies based on erroneous analyses. We must prioritize reliable, affordable energy sources and grid stability over useless reductions in emissions of a harmless gas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here to access the entire Radiation Transport in Clouds paper.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This commentary was first published at BizPac Review<\/em><\/a> on February 10, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vijay Jayaraj<\/a> is a Science and Research Associate at the <\/em>CO2<\/sub> Coalition<\/em><\/a>, Arlington, Virginia. He <\/em>holds an M.S. in environmental sciences from the University of East Anglia and a postgraduate degree in energy management from Robert Gordon University, both in the U.K., and a bachelor\u2019s in engineering from Anna University, India.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carbon dioxide (CO\u2082) has been predominantly portrayed as the chief culprit driving global warming. For decades, this misconception has guided international policies, prompted ambitious targets for reducing CO2\u00a0emissions and driven a shift from reliable and affordable energy resources like coal, oil, and natural gas toward problematic wind and solar sources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":366012,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691829997,691818153,691818432,691831979,691818087],"class_list":{"0":"post-366010","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-carbon-dioxide-co","9":"tag-climate-models","10":"tag-clouds","11":"tag-earths-climate-system","12":"tag-global-warming","14":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0104901.jpg?fit=1920%2C1200&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1xdo","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":354286,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=354286","url_meta":{"origin":366010,"position":0},"title":"Andrew Dessler\u2019s Strange Optimism (post-election groping)","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"13\/12\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"The recent election should have thrown climate scientist\/alarmist\/activist Andrew Dessler into a funk, even toward self-doubt and need to check his anti-CO2 premises. 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