376 Climate Management Issues
clouds will dissipate and allow more thermal energy to escape to outer
space. The reason this is so difcult to model consistently is because clouds
are constantly shifting, separating, growing, and shrinking. In addition, the
only way to study them is through remote sensing—the utilization of satel-
lite imagery and digital image-processing software.
Today, some of the “simple” models that can be run on desktop comput-
ers are comparable to what was once considered state of the art for even
the most advanced computers in the 1960s. As a comparison, the computers
used by NASA during the Apollo missions occupied an entire room. Today,
those same programs can be run on a desktop computer. Computer models ...