Study of Cloud Ice Crystals May Improve Climate Change Forecasts

Studies of cirrus clouds by some 450 scientists may lead to improved forecasts of future climate change.

During July in southern Florida, scientists from Goddard will join others to investigate high tropical cirrus clouds composed of tiny ice crystals. The researchers hope to determine how the clouds form, how they limit the amount of sunlight reaching the surface of the Earth and how they trap heat rising from the surface and lower atmosphere. This key information will help improve computer programs that forecast global climate change.

"Our objective is to find out how ice clouds affect global warming," said Eric Jensen, project mission scientist at NASA Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley. "The combination of measurements and computer modeling studies will improve our understanding of how cirrus (clouds) may change in response to climate change," he said. "For example, as the surface heats up and thunderstorms become more intense, will larger, thicker cirrus clouds be formed?"

The effort is called the Cirrus Regional Study of Tropical Anvils and Cirrus Layers - Florida Area Cirrus Experiment (CRYSTAL-FACE). Participants include researchers from various NASA centers including Ames, Goddard, Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va., and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Other participating researchers are from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colo., and various universities and companies.

For the complete article on the CRYSTALFACE project, go to: http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20020709crystalface.html