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DaveH
Lv 5
DaveH asked in EnvironmentClimate Change · 8 years ago

What would the Earths temperature be if there were no clouds?

If we didn't have clouds, would we be hotter (I would expect hotter due to reduced albedo) or colder?

How much?

Update:

And yes, please assume there's still oceans, so there's water vapour.

7 Answers

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  • gcnp58
    Lv 7
    8 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    LMGTFY: See first link below

    So it's a net warming if you assume all the other processes remain constant. However, without clouds you don't get deep convection, which gives a huge cooling effect (something like 80 W/m^2 globally averaged, see second link below). So if somehow magically when you remove clouds you still get deep convection then the warming would be 13 W/m^2. If you take out the deep convection then it would be close to 100 W/m^2 of warming. This would be huge in terms of global mean temperature.

    Happily, you can't get rid of clouds out if you have liquid water around.

  • 8 years ago

    There's no one simple answer to your question. Thank the Gaia Principle.

    Clouds are formed by water vapor - evaporated water. An ever-continuing process, since if you leave a liquid material in an open container, it will eventually vanish.

    Once saturated, you'll get condensation and rain.

    Without clouds, there'd be no ecological cycle and we'd all be a lot worse off.

    But there are planets that have no clouds and are colder. So let's use the closest example in terms of distance from the sun:

    The moon has no atmosphere, much less clouds to make it rain... it's a cold place... so, given the distance from the sun, without drinking water (which even the posh bottle water people collect from some dirty tap, since studies have shown bottled water to be less healthy... and far more expensive, so the free market means those companies won't last for too long as a result...)

    Back to Earth, ours still has an atmosphere. Remove the clouds and water completely, the trees and critters will all die and no bottled water company will be able to help then... as their matter decomposes, some evaporation would occur, but it'll stink to high heaven because of the disruption to the ecosystem. With all the CO2 and other gasses in the atmosphere, temperatures would remain high for a while, but with such an extreme imbalance, the only lifeforms that might survive would be cacti and cockroaches.

    Pollution in clouds leads to acid rain - rain that has an abnormally low pH, which can have an adverse effect on local flora and fauna that are sensitive. Mind you, acid rain took time to develop, with such gradual change, that any imbalance in the ecological system will have been slow to erode, and there is the concept of Darwin's theories of evolution that discuss how things evolve to compensate for different environmental conditions...

    Still, pollution isn't the sort of thing one would want to desire...

    Source(s): http://dailyinfographic.com/bottled-water-facts (for bottled water), the rest of my response is inference and conjecture
  • Anonymous
    8 years ago

    It would be hotter in the day and colder at night. Clouds are both reflect the suns rays and absorb heat. Ever notice that its warmer at night when its cloudy out? Thats because less heat escapes and is blocked by clouds..

  • Anonymous
    8 years ago

    It would depend on why there are no clouds; whether or not the lack of clouds is due to a lack of water vapor and, if it is due to a lack of water vapor, on whether or not the lack of water vapor is due to a lack of carbon dioxide.

    If there is water vapor and no clouds, Earth would be much warmer. If there were no water vapor and there was carbon dioxide, Earth's temperature would be about -14 degrees C. If there were no water vapor and no other greenhouse gases, Earth's temperature would be about -18 degrees C.

    <And yes, please assume there's still oceans, so there's water vapour.>

    Do we assume that there is carbon dioxide, or some other greenhouse gas, such as methane? If no, the oceans will be frozen solid. Unless you move Earth as close to the Sun as Venus, water vapor concentration will be a function of temperature, especially if we have as much water as in the oceans. If the temperature is less than 374.15C, that the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere will be a function of temperature.

    http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/critical-point-w...

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  • 8 years ago

    I would have thought cooler, perhaps 0.1C, but with some uncertainty; it could be about the same, or even slightly warmer.

    I don't think this is a straight forward question; assumptions have to be made and, depending on these, there could be more than one answer.

    I'm busy right now but will give more detail tomorrow. Meanwhile, here's a star.

  • 4 years ago

    The answer is colder! Because there would be no nighttime blanket to keep us warm at night

  • 8 years ago

    it would be minus 200... see global warming is a myth,

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