Live data from Hacker News

Earth's clouds are shrinking, boosting global warming

science.org

31–40 of 146 posts

Re: Earth's clouds are shrinking, boosting global warming

#31
post #13
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You really think we can unite earth to do something about it? Did u witness the world wide right wing shift? There are people still not believing climate change is real...

[flagged]

Since when do we wait for China to lead? It's such a ridiculous argument. "Why should we do anything when China bad?" Because we lead, that's why. We used to, anyway.

Re: Earth's clouds are shrinking, boosting global warming

#32
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

terawatt is not an energy unit.

R̶e̶a̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶t̶e̶x̶t̶…̶ - A̶ ̶w̶a̶t̶t̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶d̶e̶f̶i̶n̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶1̶ ̶j̶o̶u̶l̶e̶ ̶p̶e̶r̶ ̶s̶e̶c̶o̶n̶d̶ ̶ A̶ ̶w̶a̶t̶t̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶1̶ ̶s̶e̶c̶o̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶f̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶e̶q̶u̶a̶l̶s̶ ̶1̶ ̶j̶o̶u̶l̶e̶,̶ ̶a̶ ̶m̶e̶a̶s̶u̶r̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶e̶n̶e̶r̶g̶y̶ - A̶ ̶T̶e̶r̶a̶w̶a̶t̶t̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶a̶ ̶d̶a̶y̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶f̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶l̶s̶o̶ ̶a̶ ̶m̶e̶a̶s̶u̶r̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶e̶n̶e̶r̶g̶y̶.̶ [edit: The earth receives 14.9 ZettaWatts of solar…

Yeah the units cancel, that's the issue. The phrasing implies that after half a day it's received 85k terawatts which doesn't make any sense.

Power (kg m^2 / s^3) * Time (s) = Energy (kg m^2 / s^2)

Now from context it's obvious that what was meant is that Earth continually receives 170 terawatts from the sun. The phrasing is technically inaccurate, but it's a turn of phrase that works fine.

Re: Earth's clouds are shrinking, boosting global warming

#33
post #9

Interesting, the area I live in is expected to get more rain as climate change gets worse. So I would think we would have more cloud cover. But the article is about "reflective clouds". As I look out my window, I see dark clouds right now as opposed to white fluffy clouds. Will need to note the colors as time goes on for my fully non-scientific surveys :)

Clouds are all the same color. The darkness we see is the shadows from other clouds.

How come you sometimes see very dark, lonely clouds in blue skies?

Re: Earth's clouds are shrinking, boosting global warming

#34
Oh dear, that does not sound very promising. Seems like the simulation results mentioned in this article might not be so outlandish, and rather a relevant potential worst-case scenario projection: https://www.quantamagazine.org/cloud-loss-could-add-8-degree...

Re: Earth's clouds are shrinking, boosting global warming

#35
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

terawatt is not an energy unit.

R̶e̶a̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶t̶e̶x̶t̶…̶ - A̶ ̶w̶a̶t̶t̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶d̶e̶f̶i̶n̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶s̶ ̶1̶ ̶j̶o̶u̶l̶e̶ ̶p̶e̶r̶ ̶s̶e̶c̶o̶n̶d̶ ̶ A̶ ̶w̶a̶t̶t̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶1̶ ̶s̶e̶c̶o̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶f̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶e̶q̶u̶a̶l̶s̶ ̶1̶ ̶j̶o̶u̶l̶e̶,̶ ̶a̶ ̶m̶e̶a̶s̶u̶r̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶e̶n̶e̶r̶g̶y̶ - A̶ ̶T̶e̶r̶a̶w̶a̶t̶t̶ ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶a̶ ̶d̶a̶y̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶r̶e̶f̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶a̶l̶s̶o̶ ̶a̶ ̶m̶e̶a̶s̶u̶r̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶e̶n̶e̶r̶g̶y̶.̶ [edit: The earth receives 14.9 ZettaWatts of solar…

[deleted]

Re: Earth's clouds are shrinking, boosting global warming

#37
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

You really think we can unite earth to do something about it? Did u witness the world wide right wing shift? There are people still not believing climate change is real...

The right wing shift will be short-lived, like all recent political swings. The constant is a lot of political volatility, and the effects of climate change are not going to help with that.

Unfortunately (or at least ironically) the best chance we have comes from China, which has managed to maintain an ironclad grip on its internal politics and also is actually decarbonizing. The question facing us is when governments realize we’re going to need large scale solar radiation management, and who will do it first.

Re: Earth's clouds are shrinking, boosting global warming

#38
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You really think we can unite earth to do something about it? Did u witness the world wide right wing shift? There are people still not believing climate change is real...

Now that the US has removed itself from the world stage, I think it's possible something useful about climate change can happen. Likely? Still no. But, possible? Yes, in a way that was never going to happen before. China and the EU are taking over the leadership position that the US inexplicably resigned from. China and the EU take climate change and renewable/sustainable energy technology investment and adoption waa…

[dead]

Re: Earth's clouds are shrinking, boosting global warming

#39
post #19

Earth gets over 170,000 terawatts of solar energy every day—10,000 times more than humanity uses. Losing just a fraction of our cloud cover means a massive, invisible throttle is coming off the climate system. If this trend holds, we’re not just warming—we’re stepping on the gas.

terawatt is not an energy unit.

I like the use of watts/day instead of joules here because we have some intuition about watts. Earth must dissapate 170 exawatts per day of sunshine, in addition to letting off some amount of heat from the molten core.

(Life has evolved on the edge of a knife, at the narrow balance point between enormous energies that cancel out just so. I often think that at the beach, looking out across the ocean, marveling that the water is almost never sloshing around at any scale proportional to itself. It's up to us to educate those who don't understand positive feedback loops and the existential risk they present to any system in equilibrium.)

Re: Earth's clouds are shrinking, boosting global warming

#40
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

My brain turns off when someone says "leftist", tell us you're a conservative without telling us. The internet used to be nuanced, those were the days.

People not listening to others is what is getting us in this mess. Wake up sheeple!
Post reply on HN