{"id":384697,"date":"2025-06-24T17:18:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T15:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=384697"},"modified":"2025-06-24T17:18:18","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T15:18:18","slug":"new-study-the-cloud-radiative-effect-is-the-crucial-missing-piece-explaining-21st-century-warming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=384697","title":{"rendered":"New Study: The Cloud Radiative Effect Is The \u2018Crucial Missing Piece\u2019 Explaining 21st Century Warming"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

From NoTrickZone<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By\u00a0Kenneth Richard<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another observational analysis finds the shortwave effect of clouds is the \u201cthe dominant term of the recent increase in absorbed solar radiation\u201d explaining 2001-2024 warming.<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

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

According to the authors of a new study<\/a><\/strong>, clouds are the primary modulators of the Earth\u2019s shortwave and longwave radiation. Thus, the radiative effects of clouds \u201cplay a crucial role in determining the Earth\u2019s energy balance\u201d and \u201cdominate the radiative balance trends.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Satellite observations indicate that from 2001-2024 there was a 0.45 W\/m\u00b2 per decade increase in solar radiation reaching the Earth\u2019s surface. This 1 W\/m\u00b2 rising trend in absorbed solar radiation was primarily caused by declining cloud cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe increase in the absorbed solar radiation is driven primarily by a decrease in the reflection of SW radiation by clouds.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shortwave cloud radiative effect (SWCRE) is thus regarded as the \u201ccrucial missing piece\u201d in explaining 21st century warming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[C]hanges of only a few percent in the relative coverage of the [cloud] regimes produce large cloud radiative signatures that can dominate the radiative balance trends\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Image Source:\u00a0Tselioudis et al., 2025<\/a><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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

Another observational analysis finds the shortwave effect of clouds is the \u201cthe dominant term of the recent increase in absorbed solar radiation\u201d explaining 2001-2024 warming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":384701,"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":[691836024,691830417,691820001,691836025],"class_list":{"0":"post-384697","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-2001-2024-warming","9":"tag-cloud-radiative-effect","10":"tag-satellite-observations","11":"tag-shortwave-cloud-radiative-effect-swcre","13":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image-500.png?fit=1024%2C1024&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1C4N","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":234279,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=234279","url_meta":{"origin":384697,"position":0},"title":"New 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https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/0011-18-2017_Figure1v2.webp?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/0011-18-2017_Figure1v2.webp?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":426924,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=426924","url_meta":{"origin":384697,"position":1},"title":"CERES Data Shocker: Clouds and Albedo Changes Account for All Modern Warming","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"18\/02\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Nikolov and Zeller use NASA CERES satellite data on planetary albedo (Earth's reflectivity) and compare it to their semi-empirical model, which downplays or replaces the traditional greenhouse effect with a thermodynamic pressure-based explanation for atmospheric warming.","rel":"","context":"In \"albedo changes\"","block_context":{"text":"albedo 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Observations: Clouds Increase as It Warms.","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"06\/06\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"A new study finds the modeling-based claim that cloud cover changes are only responding to anthropogenic CO2 forcing as a feedback \u2013 and not functioning independently as a forcing \u2013 has (again) been contradicted by observations. 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Declining cloud cover has meant less shortwave radiation has been reflected to space, resulting in an increase in the solar radiation absorbed by the Earth\u2019s surface (ocean).","rel":"","context":"In \"CERES (Clouds and the Earth\u2019s Radiant Energy System)\"","block_context":{"text":"CERES (Clouds and the Earth\u2019s Radiant Energy System)","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=ceres-clouds-and-the-earths-radiant-energy-system"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/0AdobeStock_266865139.jpg?fit=1200%2C668&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/0AdobeStock_266865139.jpg?fit=1200%2C668&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/0AdobeStock_266865139.jpg?fit=1200%2C668&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/0AdobeStock_266865139.jpg?fit=1200%2C668&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/0AdobeStock_266865139.jpg?fit=1200%2C668&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":340498,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=340498","url_meta":{"origin":384697,"position":5},"title":"\u00a0Scientists: 100% Of 2000-2023 Warming Explained By Solar Forcing\u2026Human Climate Forcing \u2018Does Not Exist In Reality\u2019","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"24\/08\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"A new, observation-based study makes extensive use of satellite data (CERES) to quantify the driving mechanism behind the global surface air temperature (GSAT) warming throughout the first 24 years of the 21st century.","rel":"","context":"In \"EEI [Earth\u2019s Energy Imbalance]\"","block_context":{"text":"EEI [Earth\u2019s Energy Imbalance]","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=eei-earths-energy-imbalance"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/01868412.jpg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/01868412.jpg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/01868412.jpg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/01868412.jpg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/01868412.jpg?fit=1200%2C750&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=384697"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":384702,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384697\/revisions\/384702"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/384701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=384697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=384697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=384697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}