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Researchers at North Carolina State University described the rapid and dramatic clearing of low cloud cover off the southwestern coast of Africa. This newly observed phenomenon could help climatologists understand how clouds affect the warming and cooling of the Earth.
Sandra Yuter, North Carolina State Atmospheric Scientist and his wife, reviewed many years of satellite data from NASA and the European Organization for Climate Change. ### Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites. The team noticed steep clearings of cloud cover off the coasts of Namibia and Angola.
"Large areas of low cloud are a normal feature of the ocean in the subtropical regions of the western continents". "What is unusual in this case is that erosion of clouds occurs rapidly along an organized line several hundred kilometers long, like a cloud of sun torn off." The lines can move west for a day or more and clear a cloud area more than twice that of California. "
The rapid events of cloud removal occur throughout the year and peak in May – occurring on more than half of the days of the month." Yuter and his team noted that the direction of the wind at the cloud level was often perpendicular to that of the clearing.This shows that the cloud is not repelled by the wind.The clearings leave the coast around midnight and continue any the night and the next day, suggesting that solar heating does not cause these events. "This type of cloud erosion has never been documented before," says Yuter. "The way this is done Pass is still a mystery, although we theorize that atmospheric gravitational waves are the most likely mechanism. "These waves cause movements up and down in the atmosphere, similar to a boat that floats on the water. We hypothesize that the s Africa's offshore winds interact with stable air over the ocean to make these waves cross the cloud field and promote mixing and evaporation of clouds .
Yuter believes that this discovery will improve scientists' understanding of climate processes "We were very surprised by what we found," she says, "it's a way of changing large cloudy areas that has not been documented before.Scientists are interested in everything that changes the low cloud area over the ocean because these clouds reflect the sunlight and Cool the Earth. "Understanding how this happens will help us predict what might happen to clouds in a warmer climate. . "It's about balancing the effects of warming and cooling – and it's one of the pieces that make up that balance."
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh-iPQraOnk[19659009] History Source:
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