Climate-Radiation Feedbacks
The understanding of climate change due to human activities is dependent on an understanding of the energy balance of the Earth. Clouds, their types, and spatial coverage play a key role in Earth's energy balance. A better understanding of clouds and improved ways to represent them in models are key to developing more accurate climate models. This Elements of Change report discusses various observational methods from microphysical, synoptic, and the global scale, as well as theoretical understanding of cloud formation and attenuation of incoming and outgoing radiation. Also included within this report are recommendations for observational needs and techniques, along with a set of theoretical approaches for cloud parameterization in climate modeling.
