• cynar@lemmy.world
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          11 days ago

          They are, but clouds disproportionately reflect IR. Basically the energy comes in as a mix of high, medium and low energy light. The earth re-radiates as low energy IR. Clouds trap this keeping the warmth (and energy) in.

          Clouds and CO2 act in a similar way.

      • ZoteTheMighty@lemmy.zip
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        12 days ago

        Gonna call BS on that short. Clouds cool the atmosphere because they reflect incoming visible light. Clouds also absorb infrared light, causing a greenhouse effect, but they also do that when they’re not condensed into clouds. Their infrared absorption depends primarily on their composition, which doesn’t change. Contrails are basically equivalent to cloud seeding, which is a method of cooling the atmosphere by increasing cloud cover.