ABSTRACT

How much do clouds enhance the Earth’s albedo and greenhouse effect? Do they radiatively warm or cool the surface? What about the atmosphere? I will provide answers to these and other questions in my talk reviewing observations of clouds and of their radiative effects in the last four decades. I will also talk about the future, specifically the mitigating or intensifying role clouds may play with or without human intervention as the climate changes, and the challenges in making predictions about cloud properties in an evolving planet.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Lazaros Oreopoulos is the Chief of the Climate and Radiation Lab and the Deputy Project Scientist for the Aqua satellite mission. He has been with GSFC since 1997 where he conducts research on the modeling and remote sensing of clouds, cloud effects on planet’s energy budget, aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions, and many aspects of atmospheric radiative transfer for climate applications.