16 Climate Management Issues
space because they are so cold. Clouds can cool or warm the earth, depend-
ing on how many clouds there are, how thick they are, and how high they
are. Because of this, it is not yet fully understood what effect clouds will have
on surface temperatures if climate change continues into the next century
and beyond.
Climatologists have proposed different opinions. Some think that clouds
may help to decrease the effects of climate change by increasing cloud
cover, increasing thickness, or by decreasing in altitude. Others think that
clouds could act to increase the warming on earth if the opposite conditions
occurred. According to Anthony Del Genio of NASA’s Goddard Institute for
Space Studies, when air tempera ...