Cloud.
You hear it on your local news every night. And who doesn’t remember the difference between nimbus and cumulus from our earth science courses from middle school? Any type of clouds are far from simple, but this sometimes-overlooked word played an important role in 2011 in more ways than one.
Clouds, the type in the sky, besides being a part of the water cycle, also play a major role in keeping Earth warm.
Clouds emit infrared light from the sun that heats the planet, keeping its temperature at a life-sustaining level.
And that temperature is rising. 2011 was the ninth warmest year on record since 1880. (That record has been broken nine times in the 21st century.) The research is limited on how climate change affects clouds. We just know clouds are changing.
Of the several major climate change theories — none of them have good outcomes — most contend that increasing global temperatures will create more clouds which, in turn, release more infrared heat into the atmosphere, raising the temperature even more.
While the hard data backing up these hypothesizes is incomplete, the evidence that exists does lean toward clouds being the result and partial cause of global warming.
Then there is another definition of cloud that rose to prominence in 2011.
The cloud of the tech realm is that illusive Internet-based space that doesn’t physically exist on our machines. We can access anything and everything we want at any time from pretty much any place in the United States, even the world, for those of us lucky enough to have international data plans.
The Internet revolutionized how we access information, but up until recently the idea of a completely integrated system where we can get anything from anywhere in the world fell into the realm of science fiction.
Now it seems all we want is the cloud. We want all our devices to be instantly able to join that system. It’s a way of streamlining business and government and keeping all your personal files in one place. The cloud makes life easier.
The idea of cloud computing has the tinge of an Orwell novel. End users have no physical connection to their data; everything is off-site.
One of the great benefits of the cloud could also be viewed in this time of increased awareness of Internet and data security as a flaw. You only rent the space that your data physically inhabits, you don’t own it. In an age where we are told to protect our data, online and off, what does it mean to keep data safe when you don’t even know where it is?
The similarities between the fluffy evaporated water and the even more abstract way of accessing information are striking.
Both types of clouds aren’t really anything physical. Clouds are made up of water vapor, something you can’t exactly hold in your hand, and the cloud isn’t something you can see or feel.
Clouds are abstractions, a placeholder for something we know is out there even if we can’t reach out and touch it.
But why is “cloud” my word of the year?
Clouds are always changing, whether they are in the sky or on our devices. It’s been around for a long time, but in the last year its definition has changed and evolved in a way that greatly enhances the word’s stature.
Cloud might be common in our language, but it’s not going anywhere soon.
Francesca Morizio is double major in CAS and Kogod
