2024-04-02 06:46:04
By Marc Cherki
Published on 01/04/2024 at 16:33, Updated yesterday at 08:46
An “anvil” cloud. JSirlin – stock.adobe.com
DECRYPTION – These thick cumulonimbus clouds, whose shape resembles a blacksmith’s tool, form above tropical regions during rainy seasons.
The role of clouds in the climate machine is ambivalent. By reflecting solar radiation back into space, they can limit warming. But they also form a sort of insulating layer at altitude which, on the contrary, helps to trap the radiation emitted by the Earth. On the other hand, climate change contributes to modifying the number, size and structure of clouds. Predicting in this context how their role will evolve is far from obvious. Will they increase or attenuate warming? And to what extent?
An article published Monday in Nature Geoscience attempts to clarify the role of some of them: the “anvil” clouds. These thick cumulonimbus clouds, whose shape resembles a blacksmith’s tool, form above tropical regions during rainy seasons. “ These clouds are white, very bright and very cold at the top »recalls Philippe Ciais, researcher at the Climate and Environmental Sciences Laboratory…
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