Quote:
Originally Posted by domer2
Cool news/good news:
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/...-cloud-studies
CERN has been testing cloud seeding, and found it is much easier than previously assumed. Climate models assume that clouds will be an amplifier of warming rather than a dampener, but this research suggests the opposite could be the case. If this true, the Earth will warm much slower.
That's not how I read that story.
I read it as:
Climate models assume clouds cause cooling by reflecting light.
Climate models have assumed that there is more cloud cover in the post industrial world because of Sulfur Dioxide.
Climate scientists have assumed that this increasing cloud cover would lower temperatures, so when they find rising temperatures they attribute not only the warming to CO2, but the extra warming to overcome the cloud cooling.
So, the fact that there are maybe not more clouds now than before means they only have to attribute the actual warming to CO2 and not add in the extra expected to overcome extra cloud cooling.
Hence, less sensitivity to CO2.