Why are Earth's Hemispheres the Same Brightness? New Research Solves a 50-year-old Mystery. By Nancy_A
, which is a global weather database containing information collected using a variety of sources from both the air and on the ground, dating back to 1950.
From this data they used the cloud data to cross-correlate with information on the intensity of cyclones and anticyclones. They discovered a direct link between storm intensity and the number of clouds forming around the storm. The northern hemisphere generally has weaker storms above oceans while the southern hemisphere had strong to moderate storms.
Their data analysis showed that the link between storm intensity accounts for the difference in cloudiness between the two hemispheres, even though the land area of the northern hemisphere is about twice as large as that of the southern hemisphere. Hence, the increased cloudiness in the southern hemisphere accounts for the similarity in albedo.
In addition, the team’s research provided an assessment of how climate change might alter the reflection rate in the future. Models predict that global warming will change the frequency of storms in both the north and south, and some have suggested that we could one day find a gap in reflectivity between the two hemispheres.“It is not yet possible to determine with certainty whether the symmetry will break in the face of global warming,” said Kaspi, in a.
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