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Atmospheric pressure decreases with altitude, so the rising air expands in a process that expends energy and causes the air to cool, which makes water vapor condense into cloud. [8] Water vapor in saturated air is normally attracted to condensation nuclei such as dust and salt particles that are small enough to be held aloft by normal ...
Clouds, formed by condensed water vapor. Water vapor will only condense onto another surface when that surface is cooler than the dew point temperature, or when the water vapor equilibrium in air has been exceeded. When water vapor condenses onto a surface, a net warming occurs on that surface. [9]
Clouds have been observed in the atmospheres of other planets and moons in the Solar System and beyond. However, due to their different temperature characteristics, they are often composed of other substances such as methane, ammonia, and sulfuric acid, as well as water. Tropospheric clouds can have a direct effect on climate change on Earth ...
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]
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 ...
Low-level clouds usually form below 2,000 m (6,500 ft) and do not have a prefix. [1] [66] The two genera that are strictly low-level are stratus, and stratocumulus. These clouds are composed of water droplets, except during winter when they are formed of supercooled water droplets or ice crystals if the temperature at cloud level is below ...
If the air contains water vapor, then cooling of the air can cause the water to condense, and the air no longer functions as an ideal gas. If the air is at the saturation vapor pressure, then the rate at which temperature decreases with altitude is called the saturated adiabatic lapse rate.
Water content and cloud thickness together make a cloud's liquid water path. This value also notably varies with changing cloud droplet size. [6] Liquid water path is typically measured in units of g/m 2 and in excess of 20 g/m 2 clouds typically will become opaque to long-wavelength light although this may not hold true with cirrus clouds. [7]