When you look up at the sky and examine the color and shape of the clouds, you can likely judge whether rain is on the way.
When you look up at the sky and examine the color and shape of the clouds, you can likely judge whether rain is on the way. Not only do clouds release showers, snow, hail and other kinds of precipitation, but they also hold crucial information to better understand the earth’s climate.
University of Houston Associate Professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Yunsoo Choi is studying the interaction between clouds and aerosols, the tiny particles that comprise clouds, and how cloud formation and location in the atmosphere maintains the earth’s temperature. Choi was awarded a $550,728 grant from the Department of Energy’s Office of Science to fund his and his graduate students’ work over the next three years.
“Clouds cover about 70% of the earth’s surface,” said Choi, a faculty member in the UH College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. “They are one of the most essential components of the global climate system because of their regulation of surface precipitation and the atmosphere's radiation balance.”
Read More at: University of Houston
Research by Yunsoo Choi, associate professor of earth and atmospheric sciences at the University of Houston, could be used by climate scientists to better understand the role of clouds on the global temperature. (Photo Credit: University of Houston)
