David Stanley's interest in climate change led him to develop a program to improve how we gather data to study the inside of a cloud.

David Stanley's interest in climate change led him to develop a program to improve how we gather data to study the inside of a cloud. The program simulated multiple satellites, collecting images of a cloud from many angles at the same time, which could help us to better understand what's happening inside the cloud.

"Normally, we can only see the outside features of a cloud," Stanley said. "Computed cloud tomography gets its name from computed tomography which is like a CT scan. Instead of X-rays, satellites take images of the cloud from as many angles and in as short a period of time as possible."

Stanley said one of the unknowns in climate modeling is how much convective transport affects regrowth of new clouds. Convection is about the movement of heat and moisture in the atmosphere, especially up- and down-drafts in unstable conditions.

"By generating multiple time passes on the center of the same cloud, you can see how the convection changes over time, how that is affecting the growth of other clouds in the future. And cloud growth can increase greenhouse effect."

Read more at University of Illinois Grainger College of Engineering

Image: Illustration coordinated cubesat swarm imaging a cloud (Credit: The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)