The world's clouds are shifting - and not in a good way
The way clouds cover the earth has dramatically changed over the last few decades, and what it means for our planet isn't very good. Using satellite data to track cloud patterns since 1983, a new study published in Nature found that, because of climate change, cloud coverage has shifted towards the poles. This has caused the subtropical dry zones (located between 20 and 30 degrees latitude in both hemispheres) to expand. In addition, the researchers found that the clouds tops are stretching higher into the atmosphere. Taken together, these cloud changes can accelerate the warming of the planet. Because of the orbital relationship between the earth and the sun, there's more solar radiation in the tropic regions than at the poles, so cloud coverage in these areas is particularly important. Clouds' bright white nature increases the planet's aldebo , or the Earth's ability to reflect the sun's energy and radiation back into space. So, without those c