Heaven is getting closer to the land

One study shows that the height of clouds on the planet is decreasing in recent years.

The American Terra satellite has been tracking clouds above the earth for the past decade. Roger Davies, a researcher at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, and his colleagues analyzed data on the height of the cloud sent by Terra. That data source was collected between March 2000 and February 2010, Livescience said.

The team found that the average height of clouds decreased by 30 to 40 meters (about 1%) within a decade, mainly because the number of clouds formed on high altitudes was decreasing.

"We do not know exactly what causes the height of the clouds to decrease, but perhaps that phenomenon is due to a change in air circulation ," Davies said.

The average height of clouds decreases from 30 to 40m from March 2000 to February 2010.

Clouds are an important form of material for people to understand the earth's climate. Because the lifetime of the clouds is quite short, it is difficult to keep track of them for a long time. The cooling or heating effect of clouds depends on a number of factors - such as altitude and position. No one knows what the cloud will be if the earth becomes warmer.

If the clouds actually fly closer to the ground in the future, that phenomenon will have an important impact on climate change. The lower the height of the cloud, the faster the earth will cool.

Terra's cloud tracking activity will last until the end of this decade. Thanks to the data it collects in the future, scientists will know that clouds fly closer to the ground than a long-term trend or just a phenomenon that takes place in a short period of time.