All due respect to John Clauser...he is absolutely wrong. the most egregious and incorrect part of his statement: "Clouds are all bright white, and they reflected 90% of the sunlight back into space making them the most crucial yet most overlooked aspect of the climate system." Sunlight is ~53% NIR/SWIR and ~42% visible light (ignoring UV). Water vapor, clouds, the ocean and land surfaces strongly absorb NIR/SWIR, heating the earth every day. Visible light absorption is controlled by albedo. Yes, clouds are white (ask Grok why clouds are white). Clouds do not reflect 90% of visible light...if they did you would be stumbling around in the dark on a completely overcast day. Don't take my word for it, look around. Water whether liquid or vapor is transparent to visible light. Yes, clouds affect earth's temperature, when present, in a variety of ways, but many regions have ~30% cloudy days, with highly variable cloud cover. I call that a part time thermostat. What controls day/night temperature on clear days? I'll tell you...Stored subsurface heat! The daily high temperature is determined by surface temperature (~1 cm), as a function of solar irradiance, which of course varies by season. The daily low temperature is determined by stored subsurface temperature (below ~1 cm), which of course varies by season. Stored subsurface heat is what maintains earth's livable temperature, not the atmosphere! The greenhouse effect is pseudoscience. The heat we feel at 2m above surface is continuously emitted from earth's surface 24/7. That's why temperature in the tropics is much higher than northern Canada and is a function of solar irradiance absorbed by earth's surface. Stop looking for one big control knob...earth's climate system is many natural earth forces working together to create weather/climate.