The net effect on the upwelling radiation caused by tropical cyclone clouds is calculated over a 20-year global data set, and the corresponding contribution to the earth energy balance is analyzed. Tropical cyclone clouds are shown on average to increase the upwelling radiation at the top of the atmosphere compared with the background non-tropical-cyclone-cloud climatology. This increase in upwelling radiation provides an overall cooling effect on the climate system because the increased reflected shortwave radiation (cooling) outweighs the decreased emitted longwave radiation (warming). While the effect neglects the (likely considerable) contribution due to tropical cyclone drying, the amount of cooling by clouds alone represents a considerable fraction of the excess warming energy in the climate system. Thus, any future change in tropical cyclone activity has the potential to impact the overall energy balance if it substantially alters this total. The seasonal and geographic distribution of warming and cooling effects, and the diurnal dynamics that impact whether any particular cyclone is net cooling or net warming are discussed in this study.

通过20年的全球数据集计算了热带气旋云对上升流辐射的净效应，并分析了对地球能量平衡的相应贡献。与背景非热带气旋云气候学相比，热带气旋云平均增加了大气顶部的上升辐射。上升流辐射的增加对气候系统产生了整体冷却效应，因为反射的短波辐射（冷却）的增加超过了发射的长波辐射（变暖）的减少。虽然该效应忽略了热带气旋干燥造成的（可能相当大）贡献，但仅云的冷却量就代表了气候系统中过量变暖能量的相当大一部分。因此，热带气旋活动的任何未来变化如果大幅改变这一总量，就有可能影响整体能量平衡。本研究讨论了变暖和变冷效应的季节和地理分布，以及影响任何特定气旋是净降温还是净变暖的昼夜动态。