Stratocumulus clouds , which cover over 20 % of subtropical oceans and reflect 30 % of the sun ’s light , can be disrupted by rising carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) concentrations in the atmosphere , potentially causing significant rises in the Earth ’s surface temperature , according to a new climate model . Cloud behaviour is traditionally hard to model , but a new system used a supercomputer to model a 1000 km area of cloud above earth ’s subtropical ocean . The data indicated that 1,200 ppm of CO2 undermines the formulation of stratocumulus clouds , causing up to 14 F of warming . Current global CO2 levels are 410 ppm .
Stratocumulus clouds, which cover over 20% of subtropical oceans and reflect 30% of the sun’s light, could be disrupted by rising carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in the atmosphere, potentially causing significant rises in the Earth’s surface temperature, according to a new climate model. Cloud behaviour is traditionally hard to model, but a new system used a supercomputer to model a 5 km² area of cloud above California’s subtropical ocean. The model indicated that 1,200 ppm of CO2 undermines the formulation of stratocumulus clouds, causing up to 14 F of warming. Current global CO2 levels are 410 ppm.