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The altitude, form, and thickness of the clouds are the main factors that affect the local heating or cooling of the Earth and the atmosphere. Clouds that form above the troposphere are too scarce and too thin to have any influence on climate change. Clouds are the main uncertainty in climate sensitivity. [2]
Rope cloud (informal term) – A narrow, long, elongated line of cumulus clouds that sometimes develop at the leading edge of an advancing cold front that is often visible in satellite imagery. [22] Scud cloud (informal term for WMO species fractus) – ragged detached portions of cloud that usually form in precipitation. Sea of clouds
Asperitas (formerly known as Undulatus asperatus) is a cloud formation first popularized and proposed as a type of cloud in 2009 by Gavin Pretor-Pinney of the Cloud Appreciation Society. Added to the International Cloud Atlas as a supplementary feature in March 2017, it is the first cloud formation added since cirrus intortus in 1951. [2]
Cumulus clouds can form in lines stretching over 480 kilometres (300 mi) long called cloud streets. These cloud streets cover vast areas and may be broken or continuous. They form when wind shear causes horizontal circulation in the atmosphere, producing the long, tubular cloud streets. [ 10 ]
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
Stratus clouds may also form from formation mechanisms that are not typical for the cloud type, for example, Stratus homogenitus, which are stratus formed by human activity, Stratus cataractagenitus, which are formed from the spray of waterfalls, and Stratus silvagenitus, which are formed by evaporation or evapotranspiration occurring in a forest.
Stratocumulus clouds are rounded clumps or patches of white to dark gray clouds that normally form in groups. The individual cloud elements, which cover more than 5 degrees of arc each, can connect with each other and are sometimes arranged in a regular pattern. [3] [4] [5]
Polar stratospheric clouds over Western Norway. The stratosphere is very dry; unlike the troposphere, it rarely allows clouds to form.In the extreme cold of the polar winter, however, stratospheric clouds of different types may form, which are classified according to their physical state (super-cooled liquid or ice) and chemical composition.