To be more specific, the rapid surge in warming was supercharged by a dearth of low-lying clouds over the oceans, according to the research — findings which may have alarming implications for future warming. Low clouds also feed into this effect as they reflect away sunlight. If this is happening, future warming projections may be underestimated and “we should expect rather intense warming in the future,” Goessling said. But figuring out how clouds will respond to global warming is key, Zalkina said. “It literally determines how much future warming is in store.”

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Persons: Helge Goessling, Alfred Wegener, Goessling, ” Goessling, Mark Zalinka, Tapio Schneider, Zalkina Organizations: CNN, Alfred, Alfred Wegener Institute, NASA, Atlantic, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, California Institute of Technology Locations: Germany