Clouds and the dissipation of the sun's energy

[Segilla]

It has always irritated me that the sun's rays travel ca. 90 million miles but are prevented from giving their full effect to the earth by a comparatively thin layer of cloud. What happens to this 'lost' energy and does it have any effect on clouds?

[Loosehead]

It's not just the clouds it's the whole atmosphere. Yes energy is either absorbed or reflected but a lot reaches the ground and warms the planet. Harnful radiation is filtered out by the atmosphere mainly in the famous Ozone layer. Interestingly the water vapour in the clouds is a very effectivbe green house gas and is the main cause of the global warming cycle that mankind is currently being blamed for.

[Teddio]

Clouds reflect a large proportion of the Sun's electromagnetic radiation back into space. When viewed from the Moon, the Earth's clouds look a brilliant white compared to the darker cloudless regions. These latter regions are largely absorbing sunlight and are "warming up".