- Number 321 |
- September 27, 2010
Keeping cool with honeycombs in the sky
Marine stratocumulus clouds
have open cells (ocean in the
middle) and closed cells (cloudy
in the middle). The pattern of
these honeycomb clouds affects
how much of the sun’s energy
is reflected back into space.
Credit: Jacques Descloitres,
MODIS Rapid Response Team,
NASA/GSFC. (Click for
larger image.)
Over the world’s oceans, vast areas are blanketed with interconnected honeycomb-like clouds. Atmospheric aerosol particles help determine whether these honeycomb cells take on highly reflective closed pattern or an open shape, which allows more of the sun’s warming rays through. Because these cellular clouds cover so much of the earth’s surface and help avert global warming, scientists at DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory wanted a better understanding of how they form and what determines the self-organized, oscillating cloud patterns. Research revealed, for the first time, that open-cell honeycomb clouds are a complex product of precipitation, evaporation and the resulting oscillation of upward- and downward-moving air. Successive cycles create open-cell cloud patterns that interconnect into honeycomb systems. This new understanding can help scientists build better models for predicting global climate change. The study was covered in a recent edition of Nature. The research was supported by PNNL, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences.
[Kristin Manke, 509.372.6011,
kristin.manke@pnl.gov]
