Questions tagged [clouds]
In meteorology, a cloud refers to a visible group of liquid droplets and/or frozen crystals made of water or various chemicals, suspended in the atmosphere.
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Drawing the cloud cover bar of Skew-T plot
I'm trying to display cloud cover info by altitude from sounding data in a compact widget of an app for free-flight pilots. It's basically the vertical bar showing different shades of gray according ...
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Can firecrackers be used to subside thunderstorms due to cumulonimbus clouds
Cumulonimbus clouds are associated with thunderstorms. Firecrackers which go up high in the sky and then burst into glittering show, can such crackers be injected in a cumulonimbus cloud and then ...
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Showing cloud animations on a website
I want to show cloud movements from satellite imagery.
How does sites like ZoomEarth.com make cloud animations? My understanding is:
They download images from satellite image providers.
Play those ...
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Is the air temperature usually below the dewpoint above the top of a cloud?
Rising from the ground in an airplane, I fly into the bottom of a cloud.
I can explain the bottom of the cloud as air temperature (which decreases
with altitude) being decreased to the dewpoint.
I fly ...
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Why aren't lenticular clouds moved by the wind?
My book tells me that altocumulus lenticularis are not moved by wind but rather the air just flows through them without effect on their position. How come they are the only cloud type that is ...
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Visualization of formation of cirrus vertebratus?
I am trying to understand how Cirrus Vertebratus are formed.
My book and many web pages simply say "waves orthogonally to the initial cloud formation direction, in fitting conditions, forming ...
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Is it cold or hot on top of a tropical cyclone?
So I know that cloud tops of the thunderstorm in a tropical cyclone can reach -80 degrees Celsius according to infrared satellite imagery. Is the temperature of the air above the storm's eyewall ...
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Why atmospheric temperature lapse rate doesn't have a discontinuity at 0°C when ice is formed?
When trying to calculate the adiabatic lapse rate of moist air based on known values of basic thermodynamic properties of the constituents (ice, water, vapor,...) I came to the following question:
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Altocumulus lenticularis - Why is this not considered a "strati-form type cloud
Of the major cloud families, the "cumulus" type (including stratocumulus, altocumulus and so on) are generally formed by convection in unstable air, leading to their "lumpy" or &...
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Determine cloud type on the picture
I'm struggling to determine a cloud type on the photo below (I assume it is a Cirrus cloud
and wind shear also depicted there, correct me if I'm wrong).
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Why does Earth's atmosphere have a whiter color near the horizon?
Why does Earth's atmosphere have a whiter color (paler) near the horizon? (on a clear, cloudless day when the sun is highest in the sky)?
The amount of air being greater in this direction, why is the ...
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Why are nocturnal winter clouds so bright or so easily illuminated at night, compared to clouds in the summer?
In the winter when it's overcast, clouds at night are much brighter or more easily illuminated (unsure if they appear above cities/towns only) than in summer, making them look orange at night. I don't ...
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Why do clouds have positive climate feedback although they have a cooling net effect?
In a lecture we learned that instantaneously removing all clouds from earth would give radiation forcing of about 18W/m² [1], leading to significant warming. So clouds, in simple words, cool the earth ...
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What is the name and effect behind this circular cloud phenomenon?
The picture of this cloudy sky was taken today in Hamburg, Germany. Any idea, what it is, where it comes from and if it has a special name?
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Estimating longwave radiative forcing from clouds from direct/diffuse shortwave components
I am trying to estimate the downward longwave forcing from clouds. I have in-situ measurements of the direct and diffuse components of the incoming shortwave radiation, and I also have the top-of-...
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How does water vapor cool the troposphere?
I have read about the Fixed Anvil Temperature (FAT) hypothesis and wonder why radiative cooling decreases with decreasing water vapor mixing ratio.
Doesn't this stand in contrast with the fact, that ...
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What kind of clouds did Joseph Kittinger see at 102,000 ft?
When Joseph Kittinger in Excelsior III dwelt at his peak altitude of 102,000 ft (31 km), he reportedly saw clouds at his altitude. What in the world could these clouds have been? Polar stratospheric ...
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Total Cloud Cover% from NOAA inverted?
I'm trying to find and use data involving total cloud cover %. I have downloaded data from NCEI/NOAA specifically here and I'm plotting it like this:
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Formation of Clouds in High Pressure Systems (Western Australia - Perth)
High pressure systems are normally correlated with stable atmospheric conditions with little to no cloud cover, but due to this minimal cloud cover, doesn't that open up the ocean / ground moisture to ...
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Atmospheric gravity waves or cumulus cloud street?
I observed these clouds today (november 12, Belgium) and I was wondering if they could be caused by atmospheric gravity waves. How would you spot the difference between gravity waves and a cloud ...
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Can clouds increase the level of UV-A radiations received on the earth surface? If so, by how much, and in which condition(s)?
The American Scientist article nicely explains that clouds sometimes increase the level of UV radiations received on the earth surface. However, all the papers they cite focused on UV-B radiations. ...
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Why do clouds dissipate when mixing with dry air?
So if dry air is just low humidity, meaning it has the capacity to hold more water vapour, it should make sense that the water droplets from the clouds will just evaporate and fill that dry air with ...
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Is it unusual to see haboobs travel over the Indian Ocean with shelf clouds on top? What conditions can bring all of this about?
By accident1 I ended up on the Bytes Daily page Photographs 2013, part 1. I saw an interesting image who's caption reads:
A white shelf cloud caps brownish dirt from a dust storm, or haboob, as it ...
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Why do clouds sometimes form in "plumes"?
When I started exploring GOES satellite images of cloud cover (such as this), I noticed clouds could form from "plumes." That is, large clouds could sometimes form by billowing up from one ...
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Is it natural for clouds to flow near the surface?
A week ago, I have seen something that I have never seen before, Nah it's not a flying dragon, but clouds that were flowing so near my roof (about 5-6 meters above my roof). These are the pictures, I ...
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Can Cirrocumulus and Cirrostratus appear at the same time?
I see cirrocumulus fading away in the front and bunch of cirrostratus in the back. However, I was taught that cirrocumulus appear when the upper atmosphere is unstable while cirrostratus appear when ...
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Why are clouds outlining the southeastern United States?
While watching the Starlink 25 launch earlier this month, I noticed that the Florida peninsula seemed to be nicely outlined by clouds. Pulling up satellite imagery from that time showed that my ...
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Can clouds be formed without a pollen particle's role?
I read online that it is scientifically proven that pollen particles can trigger cloud formation
"is that true"?
if true ,does it mean that no clouds can be formed without pollen particles' ...
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Equilibrium condition for Kelvin's Vapor Pressure-curvature equation
This is regarding the Correction due to 'Curvature of the drop' made by Lord Kelvin to the Clausius-Clapeyron Equation.
So, the idea is that, during large scale nucleation of water vapour into cloud ...
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Is the weather of Miami, Florida and the weather of Lagos, Nigeria the same
I've been to Lagos and it rains a lot sometimes overflooding but it's pretty sunny. I'm aware that it rains a lot too in Miami. Is the climate the same apart from Lagos being near Equator and ITCZ ...
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Is there scientific consensus on the existence of the iris effect
Question:
Is there scientific consensus on the existence of the Iris Effect and whether it is a positive or negative feedback mechanism? If so, can you refer to a recent publication?
Background:
In ...
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Do clouds always move?
Can a cloud ever be stationary with respect to the ground surface? For some reason (experience, logic?) it seems to me such case is not possible. I read that stationary fronts are defined as two air ...
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Ice Water Content from GFS file
I am working my way through this paper: http://downloads.hindawi.com/journals/amete/2017/8707234.pdf
Equations 10 and 11 require the ice water content. I can't find it in the GFS grib2 file ...
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What is this narrow band of clouds?
I came across a narrow streak of clouds in Asia when playing with Google Earth.
Does anyone know what that is?
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Why are the clouds white and Australia black in weather satellite infrared images?
The question Is the sunlight on the GOES-16 Imagery reaching from the east? shows a visible light image and so in the night areas the Earth appears dark and in the day areas the Earth is a bit ...
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Why is there a clear space between the ground and the cloud base?
On Earth there is a clear space between the ground and the cloud base. This phenomenon is not confined to Earth, it's the same on Venus, Mars and Titan (moon of Saturn).
Is there a law of physics ...
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In which state of matter exactly are the clouds? [duplicate]
The state of the clouds and it can only be one of the three states, solid, liquid, or gas. Which one are clouds?
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Estimate cloudbase height
I am trying to estimate cloudbase height using calculations from my weather station temperature/humidity, by calculating those two variables I can get estimated cloudbase height but what puzzles me ...
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Why are Nowcasting SAF daytime products apparently truncated at solar angles of 20° (rather than the documented 10°)?
This image shows the Nowcasting Satellite Application Facility (NWCSAF) Cloud Liquid Water Path (LWP) product for 2020-01-08T12:00:00Z:
Cloud LWP from NWCSAF. Source: NWCSAF.
The Algorithm ...
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Cloud Formations Near Capetown
Why do clouds form a 'tablecloth' which exactly fits the top of Table Mountain near Capetown, South Africa? Something about the table top tailors the clouds to fit it exactly. The thickness is smooth ...
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GOES image: parallel trains of clouds. What to make of them?
Here is a GOES visible image from today, 2019-12-01 about local noon, around Nova Scotia. Note the parallel trains or streaks of clouds, running approximately northwest to southeast.
A few hours ...
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What causes this cloud formation?
This was taken about November 18 in southern Arizona, USA. I’ve never seen any clouds like this before. Is it natural or caused by some airplane?
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Short-term forecast of Europe by using synoptic charts
I should make a short-term forecast of Europe by using synoptic charts. I'm finding it really hard so I'd be glad if you help me.
'В' means high atmospheric pressure
I'm trying to figure out the ...
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Could this cloud be artificially formed?
This photo was taken at 3000 m above sea level in an open field, during the day.
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Clouds altitude
I'm amateur photographer and professional programmer and I'm trying to create an application to predict exceptionally beautiful sunsets (something like https://www.flickr.com/photos/photogtom43/...
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From where we get the observed cloud liquid water content data
I want to study the clouds and its profile which requires some basic observed variables, does anyone knows how and from where we can get the observed liquid water content data.
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Do cloud formations change depending on the season?
I'm currently working on some software for cloud masking, and thus far I have only been using satellite data as recent as spring (northern hemisphere). However, I'm wondering if cloud coverage or ...
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Are these plane trails seen from satellite
Here are photos from West of Normandy, at 7-9am after sunrise on the 14th of may, from the visible satellite. It's a bit strange that they are visible from space, they are 2-3 miles wide? Are they jet ...
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Can airplanes trigger rain?
A lady was telling me that the lower clouds were contrails left from plane exhausts. I looked up and there were none I could see in the sky she pointed to Stratocumulus Clouds. I did not want to tell ...
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Ordered arrangement of clouds
I happened to take a photograph of a region of clouds ,and it seems to have a rather ordered arrangement ,if one looks towards the left of the image. Would there be a physical explanation for this or ...
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