Environmental Research Letters • Vol 20 • No 9
Shifts in diurnal cycles of low and high clouds warm the climate: evidence from decadal satellite observations
July 2025 • Tingting Chen, Jinming Ge, Chi Zhang, Yanyan Wu, Qingyu Mu, Xinyi Han, Jing Su, Xiaoyu Hu, Zeen Zhu
Abstract Anticipated changes in the diurnal cloud cycle (DCC) under global warming carry significant implications for future climate predictions. However, there is a notable dearth of studies specifically focusing on DCC shifts. Here, we establish a connection between DCC and its radiative effects (DCCRE), revealing that the DCC has tended to warm the climate over the past 13 years. We found that the centroid position determines the warming or cooling effect of DCCRE, while the magnitude of the amplitude influence…