Final answer:
The statement 'Clouds moderate temperatures producing lower daily maximums and higher nightly minimums' is true because clouds reflect sun rays during the day, leading to lower temperatures, and at night they trap heat, causing higher temperatures. This is due to the clouds' ability to absorb and emit infrared radiation, which leads to a warming effect at night when they reflect this radiation to the surface.
Step-by-step explanation:
Clouds moderate temperatures producing lower daily maximums and higher nightly minimums. This statement is true. Clouds act as insulators for the Earth's surface. During the day, clouds reflect some of the sun's rays into space, leading to lower maximum temperatures compared to a clear sky. At night, clouds serve as a barrier that reduces the loss of heat from the Earth's surface into space, resulting in higher minimum temperatures than would be observed under a clear night sky. This moderating effect is also why cloudy nights are generally warmer than clear ones.
The phenomenon of cloud insulation is tied to the reflection and emission of infrared radiation. Clouds, composed of water droplets and ice crystals, can absorb and re-emit infrared radiation. During a clear night, the Earth's surface can lose heat more directly to space, leading to cooler temperatures as there's less infrared radiation being redirected back to the surface. In contrast, a cloudy sky reflects much of this radiation, keeping the surface warmer than it would be without cloud cover.
In environments where the relative humidity is high, and temperatures fall below the dew point, water vapor condenses into water droplets, releasing latent heat in the process. This heat transfer during condensation contributes to the moderation of air temperature. For instance, on a day where the relative humidity is 75.0% and the temperature drops well below the dew point at night, water will condense, and the heat released can cause an increase in temperature, offsetting some of the potential night-time cooling.