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Recent studies also suggest that cloud formation is sensitive to aerosols – tiny particles in the atmosphere. Aerosols can act as cloud condensation nuclei, around which cloud droplets can form. Changes in aerosol concentrations, due to human activities or natural processes, can therefore influence cloud properties and, consequently, the climate.
If water droplets form, they can freeze to form ice particles that compose a contrail. [1] Their formation can also be triggered by changes in air pressure in wingtip vortices, or in the air over the entire wing surface. [2] Contrails, and other clouds caused directly by human activity, are called homogenitus. [3]
Atmospheric thermodynamics is the study of heat-to-work transformations (and their reverse) that take place in the Earth's atmosphere and manifest as weather or climate. . Atmospheric thermodynamics use the laws of classical thermodynamics, to describe and explain such phenomena as the properties of moist air, the formation of clouds, atmospheric convection, boundary layer meteorology, and ...
the cloud IR emissivity, with values between 0 and 1, with a global average around 0.7; the effective cloud amount, the cloud amount weighted by the cloud IR emissivity, with a global average of 0.5; the cloud (visible) optical depth varies within a range of 4 and 10. the cloud water path for the liquid and solid (ice) phases of the cloud particles
Under dry, cloud-free conditions, water vapor in atmosphere contributes 67% of the greenhouse effect on Earth. When there is enough moisture to form typical cloud cover, the greenhouse effect from "free" water vapor goes down to 50%, but water vapor which is now inside the clouds amounts to 25%, and the net greenhouse effect is at 75%. [21]
Condensation in the atmosphere forms cloud droplets. Also, a net condensation of water vapor occurs on surfaces when the temperature of the surface is at or below the dew point temperature of the atmosphere. Deposition is a phase transition separate from condensation which leads to the direct formation of ice from water vapor.
Condensation is a crucial component of distillation, an important laboratory and industrial chemistry application. Because condensation is a naturally occurring phenomenon, it can often be used to generate water in large quantities for human use.
Thick clouds reflect a large amount of incoming solar radiation, translating to a high albedo. Thin clouds tend to transmit more solar radiation and, therefore, have a low albedo. Changes in cloud albedo caused by variations in cloud properties have a significant effect on global climate, having the ability to spiral into feedback loops. [3]