New research in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres found that low, fair-weather, cumulus clouds stimulate stronger surface energy exchange in comparison to other sky conditions over a forested landscape in northern Wisconsin. CIRES scientist Joseph Sedlar led the research along with a team of scientists from CIRES, NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory, Global Systems Laboratory, and Physical Sciences Laboratory.
As cloud conditions directly modify the solar and infrared radiation reaching the Earth’s surface, energy exchange responses affect the warming and cooling processes near the surface, driving the local weather systems, as well as the dispersion of trace gases, particles, and pollution, impacting human health.
While previous research focused mainly on uniform landscapes such as relatively flat grasslands, the NOAA research team leveraged the opportunity to participate in the Chequamegon Heterogeneous Ecosystem Energy-Balance Study Enabled by a High-Density Extensive Array of Detectors 2019 (CHEESEHEAD19) field campaign to collect radiation and cloud measurements over a forested landscape with diverse surface properties.
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Image via NOAA Climate Program Office