Analyzing global trends of different cloud types and their potential impacts on climate by using the ISCCP D2 dataset

The International Satellite Cloud Climatology roject (ISCCP) D2 dataset is used to study the global distribution of low, middle and high cloud amounts and their rends of 1983-2001. Evidences have shown that global arming has accelerated over the past 20 a and the 1990s as the warmest decade in the instrumental records since 861. Trends of various clouds amounts over this period are nalyzed by employing the linear regression method. The esults show that global mean total cloud amounts, in general,have tended to reduce over the past 20 a. But there are lightly increasing by about 2% before 1987 and decreasing y about 4% since then. Cloudiness trends of both low and igh clouds decrease while increase for the middle cloud.And there exist remarkable discrepancies in different regions.The preliminary analyses suggest that it is likely that the loud change occurring over the past 20 a is a positive feedback to global warming.