Opposing trends of cloud coverage over land and ocean under global warming

Liu, Huan; Koren, Ilan; Altaratz, Orit; Chekroun, Mickaël D.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6559-2023

Articles | Volume 23, issue 11

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6559-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6559-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 23, issue 11

Research article

|

15 Jun 2023

Research article |

| 15 Jun 2023

Opposing trends of cloud coverage over land and ocean under global warming

Huan Liu, Ilan Koren, Orit Altaratz, and Mickaël D. Chekroun

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6559-2023-supplement

Data sets

Description of Changes to Ocean Ni\~no Index (ONI) NOAA https://origin.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/ensostuff/ONI_change.shtml

MODIS/Aqua Aerosol Cloud Water Vapor Ozone Daily L3 Global 1Deg CMG NASA https://search.earthdata.nasa.gov/search?q=MYD08_D3

MODIS Atmosphere L3 Daily Product, NASA MODIS Adaptive Processing System S. Platnick https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MYD08_D3.061

eofs ajdawson https://github.com/ajdawson/eofs

Model code and software

Python Python https://www.python.org/

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Short summary

Clouds' responses to global warming contribute the largest uncertainty in climate prediction. Here, we analyze 42 years of global cloud cover in reanalysis data and show a decreasing trend over most continents and an increasing trend over the tropical and subtropical oceans. A reduction in near-surface relative humidity can explain the decreasing trend in cloud cover over land. Our results suggest potential stress on the terrestrial water cycle, associated with global warming.