Project in Science IV Types of Clouds

Submitted by: Chloe Gabriel B. Advincula Grade 4 - Yttrium

Cloud Types
Clouds are classified into a system that uses Latin words to describe the appearance of clouds as seen by an observer on the ground. The table below summarizes the four principal components of this classification system. Latin Root cumulus stratus cirrus nimbus Translation Example heap fair weather cumulus layer curl of hair rain altostratus cirrus cumulonimbus

CUMULUS CLOUD

Cumulus clouds are a type of cloud with noticeable vertical development and clearly defined edges. Cumulus means "heap" or "pile" in Latin. They are often described as "puffy" or "cottonlike" in appearance. Cumulus clouds may appear alone, in lines, or in clusters. Cumulus clouds are often precursors of other types of clouds, such as cumulonimbus, when influenced by weather factors such as instability, moisture, and temperature gradient. Cumulus clouds are part of the larger category of cumuliform clouds, which include cumulus, cumulus congestus, and cumulonimbus clouds, among others. The most intense cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds may be associated with severe weather phenomena such as hail, waterspouts and tornadoes. Cumulus clouds typically form when warm air rises and reaches a level of cool air, where the moisture in the air condenses. This usually happens through convection, where a parcel of air is warmer than the surrounding air. As it rises, the air cools at the dry adiabatic lapse rate (approximately 3C per 1000 ft or 1C per 100 m), while the dewpoint of the air falls by 0.5C per 1000 ft. When the temperature of the air reaches the dewpoint, some water condenses out of the air to form the cloud. The size of the cloud depends on the temperature profile of the atmosphere and the presence of any inversion. If the top of the cumulus cloud reaches above the altitude where the temperature is at or below the freezing level, then precipitation from the cloud is possible. The temperature of the air at ground level will determine if this falls as rain or snow.

In windy conditions, the clouds can form lines (cloud streets) parallel with the wind. In mountainous areas, they may also form lines at an angle to the wind, due to the presence of lee waves above the clouds. They form around 0 feet in the air. Over the sea cumulus clouds may be found in regularly spaced lines or patterns. The best examples of these lines are found in the trade winds, where they may extend for many miles. Such lines create a pattern in the vertical movement of air, causing it to roll horizontally. Between the lines of cloud are stronger, more gusty, and slightly veering winds, but beneath the lines of cloud, somewhat lighter and more backing winds prevail. The height at which the cloud starts to form (cloud base) depends on the amount of moisture in the air parcel that forms the cloud. Humid air will generally result in a lower cloud base. In temperate areas, the base of the cumulus clouds is usually up to 8,000 ft (2,400 m) in altitude. In arid and mountainous areas, the cloudbase can be in excess of 20,000 ft (6,000 m). Glider pilots often pay close attention to cumulus clouds, as they can be indicators of rising air drafts or thermals underneath.

STRATUS CLOUD

A stratus cloud (St) is a cloud belonging to a class characterized by horizontal layering with a uniform base, as opposed to convective clouds that are as tall or taller than wide (these are termed cumulus clouds). More specifically, the term stratus is used to describe flat, hazy, featureless clouds of low altitude varying in color from dark gray to nearly white. Stratus clouds may produce a light drizzle or snow. A "cloudy day" usually features a sky filled with stratus clouds obscuring the disk of the sun. These clouds are essentially above-ground fog formed either through the lifting of morning fog or when cold air moves at low altitudes over a region. A stratus cloud can form from stratocumulus spreading out under an inversion, indicating a continuation of prolonged cloudy weather with drizzle for several hours and then an improvement as it breaks into stratocumulus. Stratus clouds can persist for days in anti-cyclone conditions. On a weak warm front, it is common for a stratus to form, rather than the usual nimbostratus. If it is seen after rain it should clear due to warm front succession, but if this does not occur the stratus must be part of the warm sector of a frontal system; heavy rain may start again with the arrival of a cold front after several hours of stratus.

CIRRUS CLOUD

Cirrus clouds (cloud classification symbol: Ci) are atmospheric clouds generally characterized by thin, wispy strands, giving them their name from the Latin word cirrus meaning a ringlet or curling lock of hair. The strands of cloud sometimes appear in tufts of a distinctive form referred to by the common name of mares' tails. Cirrus clouds generally appear white or light grey in color. They form when water vapor undergoes deposition at altitudes above 5,000 m (16,500 ft) in temperate regions and above 6,100 m (20,000 ft) in tropical regions. They also form from the outflow of tropical cyclones or the anvils of cumulonimbus clouds. Since these cirrus clouds arrive in advance of the frontal system or tropical cyclone, they indicate that the weather conditions may soon deteriorate. While they indicate the arrival of precipitation (rain), cirrus clouds themselves produce only fall streaks (falling ice crystals that evaporate before landing on the ground). Jet stream-powered cirrus clouds can grow long enough to stretch across continents, but they remain only a few kilometers deep. When visible light interacts with the ice crystals in cirrus clouds, it produces optical phenomena such as sun dogs and haloes. Cirrus clouds are known to raise the temperature of the air beneath them by an average of 10 C (18 F). When they become so extensive that they are virtually indistinguishable from one another, they form a sheet of cirrus called cirrostratus. Convection at high altitudes can produce another form of cirrus called cirrocumulus, a pattern of small cloud tufts that contain droplets of supercooled water. Cirrus clouds form on other planets, including Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and possibly Neptune. They have even been seen on Titan, one of Saturn's moons. Some of these extraterrestrial cirrus clouds are composed of ammonia or methane ice rather than water ice. The term cirrus is also used for certain interstellar clouds composed of sub-micrometer sized dust grains. Cirrus clouds are formed when water vapor undergoes deposition at high altitudes where the atmospheric pressure ranges from 600 mbar at 4,000 m (13,000 ft) above sea level to 200 mbar at 12,000 m (39,000 ft) above sea level. These conditions commonly occur at the leading edge of a warm front. Because humidity is low at such high altitudes, cirrus clouds tend to be very thin. Cirrus clouds form from tropical cyclones, and they are commonly seen fanning out from the eye walls of hurricanes. A large shield of cirrus and cirrostratus clouds typically accompanies the high altitude outflow of hurricanes or typhoons, and these can make the underlying rain bands and sometimes even the eyedifficult to detect in satellite photographs. Thunderstorms also form cirrus clouds. As the cumulonimbus cloud in a thunderstorm grows vertically, the liquid water droplets freeze when the air temperature reaches the freezing point. The anvil cloud takes its shape because the temperature inversion at the tropopause prevents the warm, moist air forming the thunderstorm from rising any higher, thus creating the

flat top. In the tropics, these thunderstorms occasionally produce copious amounts of cirrus clouds from their anvils. High-altitude winds commonly push this dense mat out into an anvil shape that stretches downwind as much as several kilometers. Cirrus clouds also are the remnant anvil clouds of thunderstorms. In the dissipating stage of a cumulonimbus cloud, when the normal column rising up to the anvil has evaporated or dissipated, the mat of cirrus in the anvil is all that is left. Contrails are a manmade type of cirrus cloud formed when water vapor from the exhaust of a jet engine condenses on particles, which come from either the surrounding air or the exhaust itself, and freezes, leaving behind a visible trail. The exhaust can also trigger the formation of cirrus clouds by providing ice nuclei when there is an insufficient naturally-occurring supply in the atmosphere. One of the environmental impacts of aviation is that persistent contrails can form into large mats of cirrus clouds, and increased air traffic has been implicated as one possible cause of the increasing number of cirrus clouds.

NIMBUS CLOUD

A nimbus cloud is a cloud that produces precipitation. Usually the precipitation reaches the ground as rain, hail, snow, or sleet. Falling precipitation may evaporate as virga. Nimbus is a Latin word meaning in cloud or rain storm. The prefix nimbo- or the suffix nimbus indicates a precipitating cloud; for example, a nimbostratus cloud is a precipitating stratus cloud, and a cumulonimbus cloud is a precipitating cumulus cloud. Nimbus clouds often mean that a thunderstorm is brewing: there may soon be thunder and lightning. Nimbus really just means a cloud that already has rain or snow falling out of it. So you often see the names of clouds combined: a cumulonimbus cloud is a cumulus cloud, a puffy thick cloud, with rain falling out of it, and a stratonimbus cloud is a stratus cloud, a gray blanket cloud, with rain falling out of it.

Further classification identifies clouds by height of cloud base. For example, cloud names containing the prefix "cirr-", as in cirrus clouds, are located at high levels while cloud names with the prefix "alto-", as in altostratus, are found at middle levels. This module introduces several cloud groups. The first three groups are identified based upon their height above the ground while the fourth group consists of vertically developed clouds.

High-level Clouds High-level clouds form above 20,000 feet (6,000 meters) and since the temperatures are so cold at such high elevations, these clouds are primarily composed of ice crystals. Highlevel clouds are typically thin and white in appearance, but can appear in a magnificent array of colors when the sun is low on the horizon.

Mid-Level Clouds The bases of mid-level clouds typically appear between 6,500 to 20,000 feet (2,000 to 6,000 meters). Because of their lower altitudes, they are composed primarily of water droplets, however, they can also be composed of ice crystals when temperatures are cold enough.

Low-level Clouds Low clouds are of mostly composed of water droplets since their bases generally lie below 6,500 feet (2,000 meters).

However, when temperatures are cold enough, these clouds may also contain ice particles and snow.

Vertically Developed Clouds Probably the most familiar of the classified clouds is the cumulus cloud. Generated most commonly through either thermal convection or frontal lifting, these clouds can grow to heights in excess of 39,000 feet (12,000 meters), releasing incredible amounts of energy through the condensation of water vapor within the cloud itself.