interesting; now, if they would only look at the abosrptive spectrum
of CO2 versus H2O:
In technical terms, Dessler found that for every 1 degree (C) of
warming, clouds amplify that by trapping an additional 0.5 Watts per
square meter – the standard for measuring incoming and outgoing energy
in Earth's atmosphere. Dessler noted that the decade did not see an
obvious enough temperature trend to say what fraction of any warming
clouds were responsible for.
"This really emphasizes the need for continuity in our long term
satellite observing systems," Bosilovich said. "Breaks in the
continuity of the observations would continue to add uncertainty. It
also shows that long re-analyses of satellite data can make critical
contributions to climate studies. Those two things, a long satellite
data record and the reanalysis, came together in this study."
There is still too much uncertainty to make robust projections of how
clouds would respond to a warming world in the long term. In fact, the
observations do not rule out a negative feedback during the decade
observed, although the likelihood of this is small. But, Dessler noted
the observations do rule out the idea that clouds are producing a
negative feedback large enough that it can prevent substantial carbon
dioxide-induced warming.
> Andrew Dessler on Water Vapor and Cloudshttp://
www.physorg.com/news/2010-12-decade-clouds-positive-climate-fe...