Feature Climate

Cloudy forecast

The biggest source of climate uncertainty is white and fluffy

Earth clouds

UP IN THE AIR  Clouds can both warm and cool the planet. How clouds will respond to global warming is the largest source of uncertainty in climate change predictions.

NASA

By Gabriel Popkin

- More than 2 years ago

From space, clouds appear to perform an intricate and never-ending ballet. Thin streaks dance at the poles, vast storms plow across the jet streams, spinning cyclones get tossed up in the tropics and deep convecting monsters churn near the equator.