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Clouds Lithograph Answers What do different types of clouds look like from space? Cumulus clouds rise high into the troposphere but are prevented from rising higher by the stratosphere. As a result, the top begins to spread out sideways forming an 'anvil head'. The edges appear feathery due to water vapor turning to ice at the high altitudes. Cirrus clouds appear from space as a simple line of cloud. When there are many cirrus clouds in a row, they are also known as 'roll clouds' as they are sculpted into tight rolls by air currents. Storm clouds appear as a spiral, or pinwheel, over the earth. Severe storms such as typhoons or hurricanes appear as very thick pinwheels with a small space in the center where the eye of the storm is. Can you tell which way the wind is blowing? Based off of the orientation of the picture, the wind is blowing down and to the left. This is evident by looking at the direction in which the feathery tail of the clouds is stretched out. Although the bulk of the cloud will be blown along with the wind, part of it will get drawn out behind the moving cloud. Clouds are composed of a mixture of lighter and heavier water molecules. When pushed by the same wind, the heavier water molecules will not move as far as the lighter molecules, so the heavier molecules get left behind. As a result, the tail will point in the opposite direction as the wind. What properties of land and water influence cloud formation? Clouds form when water molecules saturate an air mass. Places on land that have significant elevation force air to rise, and with it water molecules that cool as the air rises and forms a cloud. If enough heating of air occurs on the ground, air becomes warmer and lighter and rises like air in a hot air balloon. When the air cools down, the vapor cools, liquefies, and it becomes a cloud. Clouds also form over land when there is a mixing of warm and cool air. Over water, the different areas of warmer and cooler water that correspond to differing depths form clouds in the same way as on land, due to the difference in air temperature. View the lithograph (pdf). |
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