Clouds less sensitive to climate than assumed

Trade wind clouds near Barbados: With the help of research flights, the international team collected a unique data set on climate impact. Photo: MPI-M - Trade wind cumulus clouds are found on about 20 percent of the globe and cool the planet. Until now, it was expected that these clouds would become fewer due to global warming and thus exacerbate climate change. A team led by Dr. Raphaela Vogel of the University of Hamburg has now been able to disprove this. Their study was published in the scientific journal Nature. In a large-scale measurement campaign in 2020, Dr. Raphaela Vogel from the Center for Earth System Research and Sustainability (CEN) at the University of Hamburg and an international team collected measurement data of the shallow cumulus clouds near the Caribbean island of Barbados. The analysis shows that assumptions about the contribution of these clouds to climate warming need to be corrected.