Clouds make climate modeling on Earth difficult. Identifying—and even defining—atmospheric phenomena on other planets is the next big exoplanet challenge.
clouds
Posted inScience Updates
Taking Flight to Study Clouds and Climate
A new mission involving synchronized aircraft observations is collecting data vital for improving our understanding of how aerosol particles and clouds influence each other.
Posted inNews
Eyeing Explosive Ash Clouds from Above and Below
Satellites in the sky combined with computers on the ground detect and track volcanic ash clouds, like those produced by Soufrière St. Vincent in April, in near-real time.
Posted inNews
Noctilucent Clouds Light Up Northern Germany
A shift in the tropopause jet may have triggered the unusual number of high-altitude clouds that briefly appeared in the early summer of 2019.
Posted inNews
Rocket Mission Conjures a Ghostly Noctilucent Cloud
Night-shining clouds can be diagnostic tools to better understand how human activity is changing the meteorology of the mesosphere.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Atmospheric Turbulence May Promote Cloud Droplet Formation
Turbulence causes local variations in relative humidity, which can push particles past a critical saturation threshold for droplet nucleation.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Ice Age Testing Reveals Challenges in Climate Model Sensitivity
Increased reflection of incoming sunlight by clouds led one current-generation climate model to predict unrealistically cold temperatures during the last ice age.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Seeding Ice Clouds with Wildfire Emissions
Wildfires create airborne plumes of organic and inorganic matter as they burn. These particles can nucleate cloud-forming ice crystals and affect cloud dynamics, precipitation, and climate.
Posted inNews
Podcast: A Modern Way to Look for Aliens
The search for extraterrestrial intelligence is undergoing a 21st century transformation. The field is poised to lead the way as an example of interdisciplinary research and inclusive science.
Posted inNews
Coastal Brazil Is Likely to Face More Heat Waves and Droughts
In 2014, São Paulo experienced its greatest water crisis ever, caused by an intense drought. New research indicates that it is likely to happen again and be even more severe.