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The overall impact of clouds on global climate depends on factors such as cloud type, altitude, thickness, and the amount of water or ice they contain. Thin, high-altitude cirrus clouds tend to have a net warming effect, since they allow incoming solar radiation to pass through while trapping heat radiating from the Earth's surface.
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 ...
A typical raindrop is about 2 mm in diameter, a typical cloud droplet is on the order of 0.02 mm, and a typical cloud condensation nucleus is on the order of 0.0001 mm or 0.1 μm or greater in diameter. [1] The number of cloud condensation nuclei in the air can be measured at ranges between around 100 to 1000 per cm 3. [1]
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
Water vapor normally begins to condense on condensation nuclei such as dust, ice, and salt in order to form clouds. The cloud condensation nuclei concentration will determine the cloud microphysics. [18] An elevated portion of a frontal zone forces broad areas of lift, which form cloud decks such as altostratus or cirrostratus.
Condensation is the change of the state of matter from the gas phase into the liquid phase, and is the reverse of vaporization. The word most often refers to the water cycle . [ 1 ] It can also be defined as the change in the state of water vapor to liquid water when in contact with a liquid or solid surface or cloud condensation nuclei within ...
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]
The smaller cloud particles similarly increase cloud albedo by reducing precipitation and prolonging the lifetime of a cloud. This subsequently increases cloud albedo as solar radiation is reflected over a longer period of time. The Albrecht Effect is the related concept of increased cloud lifetime from cloud nuclei. [5]