SP w4 Clouds

In one of the lectures I followed on the online Dutch University I learned why clouds are so very important. They ensure that we live longer. How?

Old Dutch painters analyzed clouds and light; scientists do too.

Paintings by Johan van Ruisdael with different clouds.

Why are clouds so very important?

15 to16 degrees is the best body temperature for people. As soon as it gets warmer or colder, the number of deaths increases. The temperature ot the earth without atmosphere is -18 degrees. With an atmosphere without clouds and the greenhouse gases that we now know of it will be 24 degrees. With clouds it is 10 degrees cooler.

Clouds cool the earth because they reflect sunlight. They absorb infrared; type of greenhouse effect. The warmte is partly sent back to earth. High clouds make the earth warmer low clouds make the earth cooler (average).

When the earth warms up, what happens to the clouds? Different models that predict the influence.

• Clouds around the tropics can get deeper; so radiate less energy upwards.

• Cloud covers can break open; which gives holes. Sunlight gets to the earth more easy and it will be hotter.

• Our clouds can move north or south. There is less sunlight and the amounth of reflecteer heath is going to be less.

Because clouds change so much, it's hard to study them scientifically and make predictions about them.

At the moment, the predictions for clouds do not look bright. It is assumed that due to climate changes, clouds will cause less cooling with all its consequences.

Having learned this I decided to do a series with clouds. At this moment I am searching for diversity.

For me, the clouds increasingly look like mountains. I spoke about this with a lady who had moved from the city a year ago. She told me she was scared because it is so flat in the countryside. This turned out to be for nothing because the clouds create an enormous variety every day; she enjoys that.

I do not yet know how I will edit the photos in terms of contrast and color. I'm experimenting but I'm just not out yet. I make the recordings with infrared and a normal camera together.

Of course it is the intention to show again what is going on in the clouds. I will definitely play with 3D techniques again. Last Friday I spoke with Clare about this project and she and Len wondered if I could use the rain water from the clouds in a chemical process or develop it with rain water.

I've thought about this. At the moment I am thinking of printing a photo and then letting the ink run out by exposing it to rain; to photograph that again to see if it is worth it. My daughter is doing something in that line with paint; she gets texturen created by the rain.

I once heard people say that in the Second World War the rivers in the Netherlands were so polluted that you could fix films in them. However, I cannot find this in any way, so I suspect that it is a myth. What can be found, however, is that in and after the Second World War the quality and purity of the water was a whole lot less than it is now and that it was really dangerous to swim in rivers as a result. It is therefore not completely unthinkable.