RECENT GLOBAL TEMPERATURE INCREASE INTENSIFIED BY REDUCED CLOUD COVER

  A recent paper by Helge F. Goessling, et al., published by AAAS Science, looks at the possible cause of the recent global temperature surge and suggests it has been intensified by record-low planetary albedo”. The abstract states:

“In 2023, the global mean temperature soared to almost 1.5K above the pre-industrial level, surpassing the previous record by about 0.17K. Previous best-guess estimates of known drivers including anthropogenic warming and the El Niño onset fall short by about 0.2K in explaining the temperature rise. Utilizing satellite and reanalysis data, we identify a record-low planetary albedo as the primary factor bridging this gap. The decline is apparently caused largely by a reduced low-cloud cover in the northern mid-latitudes and tropics, in continuation of a multi-annual trend. Further exploring the low-cloud trend and understanding how much of it is due to internal variability, reduced aerosol concentrations, or a possibly emerging low-cloud feedback will be crucial for assessing the current and expected future warming.”

Previous papers have pointed out a warming of the oceans, particularly in the tropics. Since infrared radiation (from greenhouse gases such as CO2) cannot penetrate the ocean surfaces beyond a few millimeters (small fractions of an inch) increasing atmospheric CO2 cannot be an explanation of ocean warming over a few years, but increased sunlight at sea level can.