THE DIFFERENCES IN CLOUDS

BY: TRISTEN WALENDZAK

WHAT IS A CLOUD?

• MASS OF WATER IN SKY: A VISIBLE MASS OF WATER OR ICE PARTICLES IN THE ATMOSPHERE FROM WHICH RAIN AND OTHER FORMS OF PRECIPITATION FALL

• MASS OF PARTICLES IN AIR: A MASS OF PARTICLES IN THE AIR, E.G. DUST OR SMOKE

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HOW MANY DIFFERENT TYPES OF CLOUDS ARE THERE?

• THE FOUNDATION CONSISTS OF 10 MAJOR CLOUD TYPES. IN ADDITION TO CIRRUS, STRATUS, CUMULUS, AND NIMBUS CLOUDS, THERE ARE CIRROSTRATUS, CIRROCUMULUS, ALTOSTRATUS, ALTOCUMULUS, STRATOCUMULUS, NIMBOSTRATUS, AND CUMULONIMBUS CLOUDS.

WHAT IS A CIRRUS CLOUD?

• A GENUS OF ATMOSPHERIC CLOUD GENERALLY CHARACTERIZED BY THIN, WISPY STRANDS, GIVING THE TYPE ITS NAME FROM THE LATIN WORD CIRRUS MEANING A RINGLET OR CURLING LOCK OF HAIR.

• CIRRUS GENERALLY APPEARS WHITE OR LIGHT GRAY IN COLOR. IT FORMS 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. IT ALSO FORMS FROM THE OUTFLOW OF TROPICAL CYCLONES OR THE ANVILS OF CUMULONIMBUS CLOUD.

WHAT IS A STRATUS CLOUD?

• A CLOUD BELONGING TO A CLASS CHARACTERIZED BY HORIZONTAL LAYERING WITH A UNIFORM BASE, AS OPPOSED TO CONVECTIVE CLOUDS THAT ARE FORMED BY RISING THERMALS (THESE ARE ALSO KNOWN AS CUMULIFORM 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.

WHAT IS A CUMULUS CLOUD?

• A GENUS-TYPE OF LOW-LEVEL CLOUD THAT CAN HAVE NOTICEABLE VERTICAL DEVELOPMENT AND CLEARLY DEFINED EDGES. CUMULO- MEANS "HEAP" OR "PILE" IN LATIN.

• THEY ARE OFTEN DESCRIBED AS "PUFFY" OR "COTTON-LIKE" IN APPEARANCE, AND GENERALLY HAVE FLAT BASES.

WHAT IS A NIMBUS CLOUD?

• A CLOUD THAT PRODUCES PRECIPITATION. USUALLY THE PRECIPITATION REACHES THE GROUND AS RAIN, HAIL, SNOW, OR SLEET.

• NIMBUS CLOUDS ARE FORMED AT LOW ALTITUDES AND ARE TYPICALLY SPREAD UNIFORMLY ACROSS THE SKY.

CIRROSTRATUS CIRROCUMULUS

• A HIGH, THIN, GENERALLY UNIFORM STRATIFORM GENUS-TYPE, COMPOSED OF ICE-CRYSTALS. IT IS DIFFICULT TO DETECT AND IS CAPABLE OF FORMING HALOS WHEN THE CLOUD TAKES THE FORM OF THIN CIRROSTRATUS NEBULOSUS.

• ONE OF THE THREE MAIN GENUS-TYPES OF HIGH-ALTITUDE TROPOSPHERIC CLOUDS, WHICH ALSO INCLUDES CIRRUS AND CIRROSTRATUS.[3] THEY USUALLY OCCUR AT AN ALTITUDE OF 5 KILOMETRES (16,000 FT) TO 12 KILOMETRES (39,000 FT).

ALTOSTRATUS

• A MIDDLE ALTITUDE CLOUD GENUS BELONGING TO THE STRATIFORM PHYSICAL CATEGORY CHARACTERIZED BY A GENERALLY UNIFORM GRAY TO BLUISH-GRAY[3] SHEET OR LAYER, LIGHTER IN COLOR THAN NIMBOSTRATUS AND DARKER THAN HIGH CIRROSTRATUS. THE SUN CAN BE SEEN THROUGH THIN ALTOSTRATUS, BUT THICKER LAYERS CAN BE QUITE OPAQUE.

ALTOCUMULUS

• A MIDDLE ALTITUDE CLOUD GENUS THAT BELONGS TO THE STRATOCUMULIFORM PHYSICAL CATEGORY CHARACTERIZED BY GLOBULAR MASSES OR ROLLS IN LAYERS OR PATCHES, THE INDIVIDUAL ELEMENTS BEING LARGER AND DARKER THAN THOSE OF CIRROCUMULUS AND SMALLER THAN THOSE OF STRATOCUMULUS. LIKE OTHER CUMULIFORM AND STRATOCUMULIFORM CLOUDS, ALTOCUMULUS SIGNIFIES CONVECTION. IT IS USUALLY WHITE OR GREY, AND OFTEN OCCURS IN SHEETS OR PATCHES WITH WAVY, ROUNDED MASSES OR ROLLS.

STRATOCUMULUS

• A GENUS-TYPE OF CLOUDS CHARACTERIZED BY LARGE DARK, ROUNDED MASSES, USUALLY IN GROUPS, LINES, OR WAVES, THE INDIVIDUAL ELEMENTS BEING LARGER THAN THOSE IN ALTOCUMULUS, AND THE WHOLE BEING AT A LOWER ALTITUDE, USUALLY BELOW 2,400 M (8,000 FT). WEAK CONVECTIVE CURRENTS CREATE SHALLOW CLOUD LAYERS BECAUSE OF DRIER, STABLE AIR ABOVE PREVENTING CONTINUED VERTICAL DEVELOPMENT.

NIMBOSTRATUS

• CHARACTERIZED BY A FORMLESS CLOUD LAYER THAT IS ALMOST UNIFORMLY DARK GREY. "NIMBO" IS FROM THE LATIN WORD "NIMBUS", WHICH DENOTES PRECIPITATION. IT IS GENERALLY A STRATIFORM CLOUD OF MODERATE VERTICAL DEVELOPMENT (FAMILY D1) THAT PRODUCES PRECIPITATION, DEVELOPING CLOUD BASES BETWEEN THE SURFACE AND ABOUT 10000 FT (3000 M). THIS CLOUD TYPICALLY FORMS FROM ALTOSTRATUS IN THE MIDDLE ALTITUDE RANGE THEN SUBSIDES INTO THE LOW ALTITUDE RANGE DURING PRECIPITATION.

CUMULONIMBUS

• A DENSE TOWERING VERTICAL CLOUD ASSOCIATED WITH THUNDERSTORMS AND ATMOSPHERIC INSTABILITY, FORMING FROM WATER VAPOR CARRIED BY POWERFUL UPWARD AIR CURRENTS. CUMULONIMBUS MAY FORM ALONE, IN CLUSTERS, OR ALONG COLD FRONT SQUALL LINES. THEY ARE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING LIGHTNING AND OTHER DANGEROUS SEVERE WEATHER, SUCH AS GUSTS, HAIL, AND OCCASIONAL TORNADOES.

• OVER ALL WE LEARNED ABOUT THE TEN DIFFERENT CLOUD TYPES AND OUT OF ALL OF THEM WHICH ONES CREATE SNOW, ICES, RAIN, AND HAIL. I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS PRESENTATION AND HOPEFULLY LEFT HERE LEARNING SOMETHING NEW.

“WORKS” CITED

• WIKIPEDIA HTTP://EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/WIKI/CUMULONIMBUS_CLOUD

• GOOGLE – IMAGES HTTPS://WWW.GOOGLE.COM/SEARCH?

Q=STRATUS+CLOUDS&BAV=ON.2,OR.R_QF.&BVM=BV.54934254,D.DMG,PV.XJS.S.EN_US.O2LQUQLBA4Q.O&BIW=1600&BIH=756&DPR=1&UM=1&IE=UTF-8&HL=EN&TBM=ISCH&SOURCE=OG&SA=N&TAB=WI&EI=NMRLUVA1BA_K4AOU_IHGCQ

• BING – IMAGES HTTP://WWW.BING.COM/IMAGES/SEARCH?

Q=CLOUD+FORMAITONS&GO=&QS=N&FORM=QBIR&PQ=CLOUD+FORMAITONS&SC=8-15&SP=-1&SK=#VIEW=DETAIL&ID=BEC9625F6A3F7185DDF14C11837B727C044DF150&SELECTEDINDEX=21