<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p> Climate variability is a hot topic not only for scientists and policy-makers, but also for each and every one of us. The anthropogenic activities are considered to be responsible for most climate change, however there are large uncertainties about the magnitude of effects of solar variability and other extraterrestrial influences, such as galactic cosmic rays on terrestrial climate. Clouds play an important role due to feedbacks of the radiation budget: variation of cloud cover/composition affects climate, which, in turn, affects cloud cover via atmospheric dynamics and sea temperature variations. Cloud formation and evolution are still under scientific scrutiny, since their microphysics is still not understood. Besides atmospheric dynamics and other internal climatic parameters, extraterrestrial sources of cloud cover variation are considered. One of these is the solar wind, whose effect on cloud cover might be modulated by the global atmospheric electrical circuit. Clouds height and composition, their seasonal variation and latitudinal distribution should be considered when trying to identify possible mechanisms by which solar energy is transferred to clouds. The influence of the solar wind on cloud formation can be assessed also through the ap index - the geomagnetic storm index, which can be readily connected with interplanetary magnetic field, IMF structure. This paper proposes to assess the possible relationship between both cloud cover and solar wind proxies, as the ap index, function of cloud height and composition and also through seasonal studies. The data covers almost three solar cycles (1984-2009). Mechanisms are looked for by investigating observed trends or correlation at local/seasonal scale</p></abstract>

Climate variability is a hot topic not only for scientists and policy-makers, but also for each and every one of us. The anthropogenic activities are considered to be responsible for most climate change, however there are large uncertainties about the magnitude of effects of solar variability and other extraterrestrial influences, such as galactic cosmic rays on terrestrial climate. Clouds play an important role due to feedbacks of the radiation budget: variation of cloud cover/composition affects climate, which, in turn, affects cloud cover via atmospheric dynamics and sea temperature variations. Cloud formation and evolution are still under scientific scrutiny, since their microphysics is still not understood. Besides atmospheric dynamics and other internal climatic parameters, extraterrestrial sources of cloud cover variation are considered. One of these is the solar wind, whose effect on cloud cover might be modulated by the global atmospheric electrical circuit. Clouds height and composition, their seasonal variation and latitudinal distribution should be considered when trying to identify possible mechanisms by which solar energy is transferred to clouds. The influence of the solar wind on cloud formation can be assessed also through the ap index - the geomagnetic storm index, which can be readily connected with interplanetary magnetic field, IMF structure. This paper proposes to assess the possible relationship between both cloud cover and solar wind proxies, as the ap index, function of cloud height and composition and also through seasonal studies. The data covers almost three solar cycles (1984-2009). Mechanisms are looked for by investigating observed trends or correlation at local/seasonal scale

Clouds and the Near-Earth Environment: Possible Links

University of Galati, Faculty of Sciences and Environment, Chemistry, Physics and Environment Department, 111 Domneasca Street, 800201 Galati, Romania

Dunarea de Jos University of Galati, Faculty of Sciences and Environment, Chemistry, Physics and Environment Department, 111 Domneasca Street, 800201 Galati, Romania

Annals of West University of Timisoara - Physics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

{"article-title":"Clouds and the Near-Earth Environment: Possible Links"}

Climate variability is a hot topic not only for scientists and policy-makers, but also for each and every one of us. The anthropogenic activities are...

Clouds and the Near-Earth Environment: Possible Links

Published Online: Dec 30, 2015

Page range: 64 - 72

Received: Feb 04, 2015

Accepted: May 11, 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/awutp-2015-0208

© 2016

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.