. How to observe the changing sky[19459000]
In my research on clouds, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to grasp the economics of the skies. It’s not just the weather forecasts that show scudding clouds, but also the deeper logic behind cloud movement, distribution and density, and how they affect light, regulate temperature, and orchestrate heat flow across our restless world.
Recenty, I’ve noticed something odd: sky that feels hollowed-out, and clouds that seem to have lost conviction. They are like ghost clouds. They are not completely absent but they’re also not entirely present. The systems which once gave these wispy forms coherence have been dismantled. They are too thin to be able to reflect the sun, too disorganized to create rain and too slow to generate wind.
Clouds are often considered insubstantial. They are more important than their weight and tangibility. Rain-bringing clouds, which are so welcome in the dry Western Australia I call home, bring much excitement. Winter storms that bring the most rain in the South-West are now being forced south and depositing fresh water vital to our oceans. The days are passing under an endless, hard blue sky – stunning, yet brutal.
Cloud patterns around the world are changing. Scientists found that the Earth’s high-reflective clouds are shrinking. The Earth now holds more heat due to less heat being reflected.
There is a quiet crisis in the air
It’s not as dramatic when there are less and fewer cloudy days. It is a quiet absence that becomes increasingly alarming.
Clouds are not going away. In some places, they may even increase. The belts of white, shiny clouds that we most need are decreasing between 1.5-3% each decade.
The best clouds for reflecting the sunlight are those that have broken grey. These cloud types can be found in areas with the most sunshine, near the equator. Broken grey clouds, on the other hand, reflect less heat. Polar regions also receive less sunlight, so they have less to reflect.
Many people think of clouds as a background for climate change. We’re learning that this was a major oversight. They are not just decor, but a dynamic and distributed infrastructure that can cool our planet and influence the patterns of rainfall below. This mass of water drops or ice crystals represents climate protection that is accessible to everyone, no matter their nation, income or political affiliation.
Clouds cover about two thirds of Earth’s surface. They are mainly found over oceans. About 70% of the solar radiation that is reflected into space comes from clouds.
Clouds are able to mediate climate extremes. They soften the sun, transport moisture, and create feedback loops that maintain a stable environment.
The white clouds that cover the Earth are shrinking.
Bernd Dittrich/Unsplash, CC BY-NC-ND
Loss is not visible
It’s not only a problem for the climate if clouds disappear or become less frequent. This is a huge loss for how we see the world.
Often, when glaciers melt or species disappear, coral reefs die and bleach, there are traces of the past. If cloud cover decreases, however, the result is an empty space that is hard to describe and even harder to mourn. Other environmental losses have taught us how to mourn. We do not know how to grieve the old skies.
We must. We must mourn to face a loss of this magnitude, not in despair but with clarity. It is not weak to mourn the past. This is the pause we need to give our planet attention. It allows us time for creative thinking and a reimagining of what it means to live in harmony with and within the sky.
Earth appears as a cloud-covered planet from the space.
NASA, CC BY ND
Clouds can be read
Since generations, Australia’s First Nations interpret the forms of clouds and skies to guide their seasonal activities. In the Milky Way dust, you can see the Emu in the Sky. It’s best to collect emu egg when the figure of the emu is visible in the sky.
Our systems cannot keep pace with the rapid changes in our skies.
Reframing how we view weather phenomena like clouds is one solution. Researchers in Japan say that weather can be viewed as a public good, a kind of “weather commons”. We can learn to be more attentive and wise with the skies if we don’t see them as remnants of an inert past but rather as invitations for us to envision new futures.
It could be that you teach people to recognize the cloud again, to see their appearance, changes and disappearances. It is possible to learn how to differentiate between decorative clouds and ones that drift. Clouds are a natural way to engage citizens.
Reading clouds means understanding where the cloud formed, their contents and whether it will return tomorrow. We can tell from the ground if clouds are slowly retreating away from places where they’re needed most.
Understanding the cloud patterns can allow us to see the changing atmosphere.
Valentin de Bruyn/Wikimedia, CC BY-NC-ND
The weather isn’t something that just happens
Since millennia humans have treated the weather as something outside of their control. It is something that just happens. Our effects on Earth are so large that now we help shape the weather. We do this by clearing forests, which produce a lot of rain themselves. Or by pumping billions of tons of fossil-carbon into the air. What we do on the ground affects what occurs above.
Every change we make will have long-term consequences. The extra heat will be felt for millennia if emissions are not reduced.
Cloud literacy is not a solution. It’s merely a means to draw attention to the real changes that are happening all around us.
It is time to move away from reactive design and towards atmospheric co-design. This should not be seen as a technical solution, but rather as an imaginative, civic responsibility.
This article was edited and revised by Professor Helena Grehan and Dr Jo Pollitt. Professor Christian Jakob also provided comments.
