Cloud formation and classification (In English)

 

Cloud formation and classification

F An aggregation of minute drops of water suspended in the air at higher altitudes” is called as cloud.

F A cloud is a visible aggregate of tiny water droplets and/or ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere and can exist in a variety of shapes and sizes.

F Some clouds are accompanied by precipitation; rain, snow, hail, sleet, even freezing rain.

F Clouds can occur at any level of the atmosphere wherever there is sufficient moisture to allow condensation to take place.

F The layer of the atmosphere where almost all cloud exists is the troposphere, although the tops of some severe thunderstorms occasionally pierce the tropopause.

Ø  Classification of clouds

1.   Classification of clouds on the basis of general appearance

ü  Cirrus Clouds

ü  Comulus Clouds

ü  Stratus Clouds

ü  Nimbus Clouds

    2. Classification of clouds by height

1. High clouds     –   5-13 KM

2. Middle clouds  –  2- 7 KM

3. Low Clouds      – Less than 2 KM

4. Vertically developed clouds) - तल से 15 KM तक

1. High clouds

1. Cirrus clouds

q  Found at the highest altitude in the atmosphere, these clouds are composed of snowflakes.

q  Their average height ranges from 6 km to the tropopause above sea level.

q  The lobed clouds are almost transparent to white in colour.

q  From these clouds the light of the Sun and the Moon reaches the

2. Cirro Stratus Clouds

q  These clouds are not separate in the sky but are like fine and white sheets.

q  It is also transparent.

q  These clouds form a halo around the Sun and the Moon.

q  The formation of aura is helpful in providing information about the arrival of cyclone. 

3. Cirrocumulus Clouds (पक्षाभ कपासी बादल)

q  These clouds appear in the sky like fine icy strips or pea grains kept in a line.

q  These commonly appear to be like ripples formed on the seaside sand.

q  They are also called “Markerel sky".

Ø  Middle clouds (मध्यम बादल): - 2-7 KM की ऊंचाई पर (ये बादल जल बिन्दुकों या हिम बिन्दुकों या दोनों को मिला के बनते है।

1. Altostratus Clouds (मध्य सतरीय बादल )

q  These clouds are brown or light blue in color.

q  These clouds remain scattered in the form of thin sheets in the sky.

q  These clouds are denser than the cirro-stratus.

q  Somewhere the light of the Sun or the Moon is visible from a thin sheet of clouds.

q  From these, carona is formed around the Sun and the Moon. 

2. Altocumulus clouds (मध्य कपासी बादल)

q  These clouds are found in the form of ordered rows, waves or clusters.

q  Their development occurs in a vertical form due to the rising air occasionally rising between the middle cotton cloud.

q  The clouds seen on the peaks of the mountains also fall in this category.

q  Both the mid-layered and the mid-Kapsi clouds can convert into each other.

q  Both these types of clouds can cause rain, but they do not necessarily reach the earth's surface.

q  The weather looks pleasant in the Alto cumulus clouds.

3. Low clouds (निम्न बादल) - पृथ्वी तल से 2 KM की ऊंचाई तक

1. Stratus Clouds (सतरी बादल)

q  These clouds are generally found more at lower altitudes, they look like fog, but they are formed at a height above the surface.

q  When broken by air, it is called fractostratus.

q  Light rain falls from these clouds.

2. Nimbo-stratus clouds (वर्षा सतरी बादल)

q  These clouds are dark brown in color and are very dense.

q  Due to their density, darkness prevails.

q  These clouds cause rain or snow.

3. Strato cumulus clouds (सतरी कपासी बादल)

q  These appear as clusters gathered in the form of rows, clusters or waves.

q  These clouds are usually indicative of clear weather, but sometimes a row or group of clouds may cause light rain.

4. Vertically developed clouds (लम्बवत विकसित बादल)

Two Types

1. Comulus Clouds (कपासी बादल)
2. Comulus nimbus clouds (कपासी वर्षी बादल)

1. Cumulus Clouds (कपासी बादल)

q  Cumulus Clouds look like a pile of smudged cotton in the sky.

q  The vertical growth of these clouds is very high.

q  Its sections are visible in the sky in the form of a dome, whose top is like cauliflower and the base plane is flat.

2. Cumulus nimbus clouds (कपासी वर्षी बादल)

q  These are very vertically developed clouds whose height from base to top is sometimes up to 12 KM or more.

q  They cause thunder and flashes as well as heavy rain, snow and hail.

q  Sometimes a large number of formed cumulus clouds get mixed together and spread in the form of cumulus rain all over the sky.

Note : -

ü  Cirro stratus clouds मे Halo (प्रभामंडल) का निर्माण सूर्य व चंद्रमा के चारों ओर होता है । halo हिमकणो द्वारा होने प्रकाश के अपवर्तन से बंता है।

ü  Alto stratus व alto cumulus बादलों के द्वारा सूर्य व चंद्रमा के चारों ओर केरोना (carona) का निर्माण होता है। carona का निर्माण पनि की बूंदों से प्रकाश के परावर्तन के कारण होता है ।

ü  Carona का व्यास halo से कम होता है।