Extreme precipitation should increase with warmer temperatures. Data from tropical regions show that this correlation is obscured by the cooling effect of clouds. When cloud effects are corrected, the increase in extreme precipitation with rising temperatures becomes apparent.
Land surface temperatures are shaped mostly by the heating by sunlight, but also by evaporation and convective heat transfer in the vertical. A new study determined the role of these two processes by employing a physical limit.
Axel Kleidon discusses contemporary issues relating to the Earth system, thermodynamics, energy conversion, and the water cycle, and explains the current state of scientific knowledge in these areas.