1995 Rossow, W.B., and Y.-C. Zhang 1995. Validation and first results. Our validation studies suggest that the specification of cloud effects is no longer the dominant uncertainty in reconstructing the radiative fluxes at the top of atmosphere and at the surface. Rather cloud property uncertainties are now roughly equal contributors to the flux uncertainty, along with surface and atmospheric properties. Clouds have almost no net effect on the global mean radiation balance of the atmosphere, but they enhance the latitudinal gradient in the LW cooling and reinforce the radiative forcing for the mean atmospheric circulation.
Clouds act to mute seasonal contrasts however.
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