{"id":17158,"date":"2016-01-31T10:21:05","date_gmt":"2016-01-31T15:21:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=17158"},"modified":"2016-01-31T10:21:05","modified_gmt":"2016-01-31T15:21:05","slug":"cloud-blanket-warms-up-melting-icecap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=17158","title":{"rendered":"Cloud blanket warms up melting icecap"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 class=\"article_title is-main\"><a href=\"http:\/\/climatenewsnetwork.net\/cloud-blanket-warms-up-melting-icecap\/\">Cloud blanket warms up melting icecap<\/a><\/h3>\n<h3><a href=\"http:\/\/climatenewsnetwork.net\/cloud-blanket-warms-up-melting-icecap\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-article-full wp-post-image\" src=\"http:\/\/climatenewsnetwork.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/cloudy-ice-cap-800x400.jpg\" alt=\"cloudy ice cap\" width=\"800\" height=\"400\" \/><\/a><\/h3>\n<div class=\"article_summary\">\n<div class=\"article_excerpt\">\n<p>Ominous clouds over the icecap near Kangerlussuaq in Western Greenland.<br \/>\n<em>Image:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/feldbech\/\">Nikolaj F. Rasmussen<\/a>\u00a0via Flickr<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article_content with-sidebar\">\n<div class=\"ssba ssba-wrap\">New study shows that up to 30% of the Greenland icecap melting is due to cloud cover that is helping to raise temperatures \u2212 and accelerate sea level rise.<\/div>\n<p><em>LONDON, 30 January, 2016<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 Researchers have identified another piece in the climate machinery that is\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.eurekalert.org\/pub_releases\/2016-01\/kl-gis011116.php\" target=\"_blank\">accelerating the melting of the Greenland ice cap<\/a>. The icy hills are responding to the influence of a higher command system: the clouds.<\/p>\n<p>An international research team led by scientists from the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kuleuven.be\/english\" target=\"_blank\">Catholic University of Leuven<\/a>\u00a0in Belgium\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/ncomms\/2016\/160112\/ncomms10266\/full\/ncomms10266.html\" target=\"_blank\">report in Nature Communications journal<\/a>\u00a0that cloud cover above the northern hemisphere\u2019s largest single volume of permanent ice is raising temperatures by between 2\u00b0 and 3\u00b0C and accounting for 20-30% of the melting.<\/p>\n<p>The conclusion, based on imaging from satellites and on computer simulations, is one more part of the global examination of the intricate climate systems on which human harvests, health and happiness ultimately depend.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Disastrous consequences<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith climate change at the back of our minds, and the disastrous consequences of global sea level rise, we need to understand these processes to make more reliable projections for the future,\u201d says the study leader, Kristof Van Tricht, a Ph.D research fellow in Leuven\u2019s Division of Geography and Tourism. \u201cClouds are more important for that purpose than we used to think.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cClouds always have several effects. On the one hand, they help add mass to the ice sheet when it snows. On the other, they have an indirect effect on the ice sheet as well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey have an impact on the temperature, and snow and ice react to these changes by melting and refreezing. That works both ways. Clouds block the sunlight, which lowers the temperature. At the same time, they form a blanket that keeps the surface warm, especially at night.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;click on the above link to read the rest of the article&#8230;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cloud blanket warms up melting icecap Ominous clouds over the icecap near Kangerlussuaq in Western Greenland. Image:\u00a0Nikolaj F. Rasmussen\u00a0via Flickr New study shows that up to 30% of the Greenland icecap melting is due to cloud cover that is helping to raise temperatures \u2212 and accelerate sea level rise. LONDON, 30 January, 2016\u00a0\u2013 Researchers have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[141,9245,12086,369,2196,12085,7514,11565],"class_list":["post-17158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","tag-climate-change","tag-climate-news-network","tag-cloud-cover","tag-global-warming","tag-greenland","tag-greenland-icecap","tag-sea-level-rise","tag-tim-radford"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17158"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17159,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17158\/revisions\/17159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}