Study Finds Thicker Storm Clouds Over Warmer Tropical Waters, Affect Climate

A series of mature thunderstorms located in southern Brazil. A number of overshooting tops and anvil clouds are visible at the tops of the clouds. Storms of this magnitude can drop large amounts of rainfall in a short period of time, causing flash floods.

Over warmer ocean waters, tropical storm clouds become thicker, more extensive and reflect more sunlight back into space than they do over cooler waters, NASA researchers report.

Using data from NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite, Anthony Del Genio, a physical scientist at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and lead author of the study, and his co-author, Columbia University's William Kovari, were able to isolate raining cloud systems and compare the rain they produce with the water that stays in the clouds and reflects sunlight. The researchers found that storm clouds over warmer waters are denser and cover wider areas of the tropics than those over cooler waters.

"We now have a better understanding of tropical storm clouds." said Del Genio. "Such clouds play a key role in global climate change, and it is essential to understand this role thoroughly if we are ever to comprehend humanity's effect on the Earth's climate."

For the complete article go to: http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20020915iristheory.html