CLOUDS

What are clouds?

A cloud is made of water drops or ice crystals floating in the sky.They are formed when water on Earth evaporates into the sky and condenses high up in the cooler air.They also help regulate Earth's temperature. Some clouds are near the ground. Others are almost as high as jet planes fly. Some are puffy like cotton. Others are grey and uniform.

                 

  The picture on the left shows different kinds of clouds based on their range in the air.








Types of clouds
The name of a cloud may describe its appearance. Cloud classifications were devised in the early 19th century by an Englishman named Luke Howard who classified clouds using Latin words. There are three main types of clouds including:

• Cirrus, from cirro, meaning curly or fibrous
• Stratus, from strato, suggesting sheets or layers
• Cumulus, from cumulo, indicating heaped or pile

Cirrus clouds

Cirrus clouds are the most common of the High Cloud (5000-13,000m) group. They are composed entirely of ice and consist of long, thin, wispy streamers. They are commonly known as "mare's tails" because of their appearance. Cirrus clouds are usually white and predict fair weather.
It form when water vapor undergoes deposition and forms ice crystals. Cirrus clouds are thin because they form in the higher levels of the atmosphere where little water vapor is present.

Stratus clouds

Stratus clouds belong to the Low Cloud (surface-2000m up) group.The word 'stratus' comes from a Latin root word meaning 'layer,' as stratus clouds look like a blanket covering the sky. They are uniform gray in color and can cover most or all of the sky. Stratus clouds can look like a fog that doesn't reach the ground. Light mist or drizzle is sometimes associated with stratus clouds.


Cumulus clouds

Cumulus clouds are puffy clouds that sometimes look like pieces of floating cotton. The base of each cloud is often flat and may be only 1000 meters (3300 feet) above the ground. The top of the cloud has rounded towers. When the top of the cumulus resembles the head of a cauliflower, it is called cumulus congestus or towering cumulus. These clouds grow upward, and they can develop into a giant cumulonimbus, which is a thunderstorm cloud.

Some FACTS about clouds:

• Rain, snow, sleet and hail falling from clouds is called precipitation.
• Clouds can contain millions of tons of water
• Fog is stratus type of cloud that appears very close to the ground.
• Other planets in our Solar System have clouds. Venus has thick clouds of sulfur-dioxide.
• Jupiter and Saturn have clouds of ammonia.
• There are many variations of these 3 main cloud types including stratocumulus, altostratus, altocumulus, cirrostratus and cirrocumulus.

References:

http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Atmosphere/clouds/cirrus.html

http://www.livescience.com/29436-clouds.html

http://scied.ucar.edu/webweather/clouds/cloud-types

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/weather/clouds.html

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/what-are-clouds-k4.html

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/weather/wcirrus.htm

http://study.com/academy/lesson/stratus-clouds-definition-facts.html

https://eo.ucar.edu/webweather/cumulus.html