how does the amount of clouds cover the amount of solar energy that reaches the earth?
7 thoughts on “how does the amount of clouds cover the amount of solar energy that reaches the earth?”
Green
very true DIPTESH….
vmaldia
i think your english is a little off. A better question might be
"how much do clouds decrease the amount of solar energy that reaches the earth?"
whsgreenmom
Yes, basically they block the sunshine. I have a solar pv system and my production is dramatically decreased when clouds are overhead.
John W
Clouds reflect light, that’s why they are white. More clouds, more energy reflected into space which is why satellites can see clouds. More energy reflected, less get through to reach the Earth. Cloud reflectivity depends a lot on water droplet size, the smaller the droplets, the higher the reflectivity hence the proposal of using sulfur dioxide to increase cloud reflectivity to slow down global warming.
DIPTESH
Well thats simeple….
on a cloudy day as we know that cloud contains water droplets and sudden dust particles…
so when the UV rays come….
they
broke the water molecules into water and hydrogen…
i.e.
UV + H2O—– H2+ O2
so the UV rays loose its energy here only and too the dust particles don’t allow them to penetrate. and hence they do not reach the earth surface…..
well i deny with silent…….. as we know that H2O is a green house gas so it only lead to green house effect..
due to which our sorrounding tempreture rises……
SilentDoGood
On a cloudy day, the UV rays will come through the clouds and still heat up the water in the panel of a solar hot water system. You don’t need the sunlight to heat the water. The water temperature may be about 20% less but still hot.
JSB
Clouds reduce the amount of solar energy reaching the earth. But they also reflect radiated energy that would otherwise be emitted into space from the earth.
This is called the greenhouse effect because, like the glass in a greenhouse it reduces the heat getting in but is very effective in preventing it from escaping so that the temperature inside the greenhouse becomes higher than the temperature outside.
Clouds are not the only greenhouse gas. Carbon dioxide is another and, unfortunately, because we have been burning a lot of fossil fuels since the industrial revolution, the proportion of carbon dioxide in the air has been rising. This is leading to global warming which will have catastrophic effects unless we stop it.
There are those who say the increase in carbon dioxide is insignificant and can not lead to global warming but I get the impression they are fooling themselves so they can continue with business as usual. They say that governments are trying to scare us so they can collect more taxes. That doesn’t make sense to me because politicians do not make themselves popular by giving us bad news.
very true DIPTESH….
i think your english is a little off. A better question might be
"how much do clouds decrease the amount of solar energy that reaches the earth?"
Yes, basically they block the sunshine. I have a solar pv system and my production is dramatically decreased when clouds are overhead.
Clouds reflect light, that’s why they are white. More clouds, more energy reflected into space which is why satellites can see clouds. More energy reflected, less get through to reach the Earth. Cloud reflectivity depends a lot on water droplet size, the smaller the droplets, the higher the reflectivity hence the proposal of using sulfur dioxide to increase cloud reflectivity to slow down global warming.
Well thats simeple….
on a cloudy day as we know that cloud contains water droplets and sudden dust particles…
so when the UV rays come….
they
broke the water molecules into water and hydrogen…
i.e.
UV + H2O—– H2+ O2
so the UV rays loose its energy here only and too the dust particles don’t allow them to penetrate. and hence they do not reach the earth surface…..
well i deny with silent…….. as we know that H2O is a green house gas so it only lead to green house effect..
due to which our sorrounding tempreture rises……
On a cloudy day, the UV rays will come through the clouds and still heat up the water in the panel of a solar hot water system. You don’t need the sunlight to heat the water. The water temperature may be about 20% less but still hot.
Clouds reduce the amount of solar energy reaching the earth. But they also reflect radiated energy that would otherwise be emitted into space from the earth.
This is called the greenhouse effect because, like the glass in a greenhouse it reduces the heat getting in but is very effective in preventing it from escaping so that the temperature inside the greenhouse becomes higher than the temperature outside.
Clouds are not the only greenhouse gas. Carbon dioxide is another and, unfortunately, because we have been burning a lot of fossil fuels since the industrial revolution, the proportion of carbon dioxide in the air has been rising. This is leading to global warming which will have catastrophic effects unless we stop it.
There are those who say the increase in carbon dioxide is insignificant and can not lead to global warming but I get the impression they are fooling themselves so they can continue with business as usual. They say that governments are trying to scare us so they can collect more taxes. That doesn’t make sense to me because politicians do not make themselves popular by giving us bad news.
Best wishes