March 7, 2008

 

 

Clouds (Chapter 4, pgs. 92-95, 97-104)

n     A cloud is a visible collection of tiny water droplets and/or ice crystals that remain suspended in the air.

o      Although individual cloud droplets (or ice crystals) are generally too small to see with the naked eye, the combined effects of many droplets make the cloud visible.  A cloud may contain 3000 droplets per cubic inch.

 

o      Clouds are NOT water vapor, which is an invisible gas.

 

o      All clouds form when water vapor in the air condenses into tiny liquid droplets or ice crystals.  Interestingly, the formation of water droplets requires a surface be available for condensation to begin. In the atmosphere, water vapor condenses onto microscopic aerosol particles, such as dust, smoke, and salt, which are called cloud condensation nuclei. There are always enough cloud condensation nuclei around for clouds to form. The actual physical processes that take place during the initial stages of cloud formation are quite complicated and will not be covered in this course.

 

o      Clouds most commonly form as air rises upward and cools.   (We will discuss why rising air cools shortly).  Consider an air parcel that is moving upward and cooling.  As the parcel cools, its relative humidity increases.  Why?  Once the RH reaches 100%, any further cooling results in net condensation because the parcel originally had more water vapor than the saturation amount at the colder temperature.  A numerical example may help (we will use Table 4-1 from class handout):

§       Suppose a parcel of air with a temperature of 25°C and RH of 70% is lifted upward in the atmosphere and cools to a temperature of 0°C. If the parcel contains 1 kg of dry air, how much water vapor and liquid water are contained in the parcel (a) before it is lifted upward; and (b) after it has been lifted and cooled to 0°C.

(a)   Before lifting the parcel, its mixing ratio is U = (RH) x (Us) = (0.7) x (20 g/kg) = 14 g/kg. There is no liquid water at first. Thus, there is 14 g of water vapor and no liquid water. From the table, the dew point for the parcel is 20°C.

 

(b)  If a parcel of air is cooled below its original dew point, just enough liquid water will condense so that the air in the parcel is saturated (relative humidity = 100%). From the table, this means that after the parcel has been cooled to 0°C, its mixing ratio will be 3.5 g/kg, thus the lifted and cooled parcel now contains 3.5 g of water vapor. The remaining water vapor has condensed into liquid, therefore the parcel contains, (14.0 g - 3.5 g) = 10.5 g of liquid water in the form of tiny cloud droplets.

 

o      Fog is nothing more than a cloud that forms at ground level.  Due to the influence of the ground surface, fogs can form in several ways.  We will not spend much time on fog, only to describe how several types of fog can form.

§       Radiation fog can form when the air with a high relative humidity comes in contact with a cold ground surface and is cooled to its dew point temperature.  This is most common in the late night / early morning, when the ground surface is the coldest (because it has cooled by giving off radiation).

 

§       Advection fog can form when warm, humid air moves with the wind over a cold surface.  The cold surface cools the air to its dew point temperature.  This fog is common along the Pacific coast of the US during the summer.

 

§       Steam fog can form when cold air moves over a warm water surface.  The air above the warm water is nearly saturated and when it mixes with the cold air moving over the water, it is cooled to its dew point.  This is basically what happens when you are able to “see your breath” on a cold day.

 

o      Classification of Common Clouds

§       There are 4 basic cloud types or forms

(a)   Cirrus – “wispy”; thin, wispy clouds of ice

(b)  Stratus – “flat, sheet-like”; layered clouds, vertically thin, but horizontally extensive

(c)   Cumulus – “puffy or heaped up”; clouds with vertical development; often see blue sky between individual cloud elements, which can be vertically tall.

(d)  Nimbus – “rain falling”; rain producing clouds

 

§       Clouds are also classified based on their altitude or height

(a)   High clouds are called “cirroform” type

o      Generally above 6 km (19000 ft)

(b)  Middle altitude clouds are called “altoform” type

o      Generally between 2 and 6 km (6000 – 19000 ft)

(c)   Low altitude clouds are called “stratoform” type

o      Generally below 2 km (6000 ft)

(d)  Clouds with vertical development are called “cumuloform” type

o      Extend over a large vertical range

 

§       By combining the Latin terms for cloud form and cloud height, we get the 10 principle cloud names:  Cirrus, Cirrostratus, Cirrocumulus, Altostratus, Altocumulus, Stratus, Stratocumulus, Nimbostratus, Cumulus, and Cumulonimbus.  In lecture we will look at a picture of each of these cloud types.  (Show figures 4.21 – 4.32 from textbook).  When looking at clouds in the sky, it is sometimes difficult to classify them into one of these 10 types.  In addition, there are also some unusual clouds that do not fit nicely into any of the 10 general types.  Because we are covering this material so quickly, below is a list of what I would expect you to know for a quiz:

 

(a)   Cirrus clouds are high, thin clouds composed of ice.

 

(b)  Stratus clouds are sheet-like layers of clouds that cover a large portion of the sky.  They can be dark depending on how much sunlight they allow to pass through.

 

(c)   Nimbostratus clouds are basically stratus clouds that are producing precipitation.

 

(d)  Cumulus clouds are vertically developed (puffy clouds), and often have clear sky between individual cloud elements.

o      Small cumulus clouds (with only shallow vertical development) are often called fair weather cumulus because there is no immediate threat of rain from these clouds.

 

o      Larger and more vertically developed cumulus clouds, those that begin to look like a head of cauliflower, are called towering cumulus or cumulus congestus.

 

o      If cumulus congestus clouds continue to grow vertically, they may develop into a cumulonimbus cloud, which is a thunderstorm cloud. 

§       On some summer days, it may be clear in the early morning, with fair weather cumulus developing by late morning. 

§       By early afternoon the clouds may further develop into cumulus congestus. 

§       Finally, cumulonimbus (thunderstorm) clouds may develop by late afternoon.

 

Why does rising air cool and sinking air warm? (Chapter 2, page 31)

n     Remember that an air parcel is a bubble of air enclosed within an imaginary, elastic boundary keeping it separated from the rest of the air. No gas is allowed to leave or enter the parcel, but the shape of the parcel is allowed to change. As an air parcel moves around in the atmosphere, its shape changes in response to changes in air pressure surrounding the parcel.  In fact the shape changes so that the air pressure inside the parcel will always remain the same as the air pressure surrounding the parcel.

o      Thought exercise.  If the air pressure inside a parcel is not the same as the air pressure outside the parcel, then the parcel “wall” will be forced to expand or contract.

 

n     As a parcel moves upward in the atmosphere, the air pressure surrounding the parcel decreases.  In order to equalize air pressure, the parcel must expand or increase its size.  In order to increase its size, the parcel uses some of its energy to expand outward.  This expenditure of energy causes the parcel’s temperature to cool.

o      When air moves upward, it expands and cools.

o      Draw a simple schematic figure.

 

n     As a parcel moves downward in the atmosphere, the air pressure surrounding the parcel increases.  The increasing air pressure surrounding the parcel, causes the parcel to be compressed or decrease in size.  Now the outside air is supplying energy to the parcel to make it contract.  This addition of energy, cases the parcel’s temperature to warm.

o      Use simple figure to show what happens when an air parcel lowers.

 

n     In summary, when air rises, it cools because it expands … and when air sinks, it warms because it is being compressed.  To further convince you consider these everyday examples:

o      Air cools as it expands … releasing gas from an aerosol spray can.

o      Air warms as it is compressed … operating a bicycle pump.

 

Summary for cloud formation

n     Most clouds form well above the ground surface. Air parcels near the Earth's surface contain water vapor, which evaporated from liquid surfaces, e.g., oceans, lakes. When these parcels move upward, they take this water in the form of water vapor with them. As parcels move upward, they expand and cool, i.e., the temperature in the air parcel decreases. This increases the relative humidity of the air in the parcel because as air temperature falls, the capacity for water vapor in the air decreases. If the air is cooled enough (down to its dew point temperature), the relative humidity becomes 100%. Once this point is reached, when air parcels rise higher, their temperature becomes so low that they cannot hold all of the water vapor that they contain. The excess water vapor condenses into liquid water, forming clouds.  In fact, just enough water vapor condenses to liquid water droplets, so that the relative humidity remains 100% and does not exceed 100%.