There may be a new cloud type in which Jane Wiggins, a woman from Iowa shot a picture of. Just take a look at the of the clouds here:
Personally, I believe this picture is amazing though the clouds do look quite frightening. This picture raises the question as to whether the phenomena in this shot is a legitimate new type of cloud and has been the fuel to a debate among meteorologists and cloud physicists, around the world. If this is named as a new cloud type, then we are looking at the first new cloud to be recognized by the WMO (World Meteorological Organization) since 1951. Though the photo is undated, the presumed time of capture is around 2006.
Clouds are formed when water vapor in the air, cools to its dew point or the temperature for which that parcel of air is cooled at a constant barometric pressure. This process results in the water vapor condensing into water droplets. The water droplets condense onto microscopic dust particles or condensation nuclei which is floating around in the atmosphere. Many atmospheric phenomena throughout the world is formed by this process or convection, which is when the air parcel cools by expansion as it moves upward in the atmosphere and as the water droplets condense latent heat is released into the atmosphere, which in return causes the formation to rise.
-->There are many different types of clouds, which can be classified into four simplified fields: cumulus, stratus, cirrus, and nimbus. Cumulus clouds are vertically developed clouds, also known as the fair weather clouds, stratus clouds are layered cloud that form at a low altitude, cirrus clouds are the high altitude clouds that are thin and wispy (my favorite clouds) and nimbus clouds are usually combined with other types of clouds and are known as the rain clouds.
Of course there are MANY more clouds which form as a combination of these four basic types, such as stratocumulus clouds which are gray and appear just before a storm.
Personally, I believe this picture is amazing though the clouds do look quite frightening. This picture raises the question as to whether the phenomena in this shot is a legitimate new type of cloud and has been the fuel to a debate among meteorologists and cloud physicists, around the world. If this is named as a new cloud type, then we are looking at the first new cloud to be recognized by the WMO (World Meteorological Organization) since 1951. Though the photo is undated, the presumed time of capture is around 2006.
Clouds are formed when water vapor in the air, cools to its dew point or the temperature for which that parcel of air is cooled at a constant barometric pressure. This process results in the water vapor condensing into water droplets. The water droplets condense onto microscopic dust particles or condensation nuclei which is floating around in the atmosphere. Many atmospheric phenomena throughout the world is formed by this process or convection, which is when the air parcel cools by expansion as it moves upward in the atmosphere and as the water droplets condense latent heat is released into the atmosphere, which in return causes the formation to rise.
So what are the clouds in the picture? Unfortunately it may take years for the clouds in the above picture to be recognized as a new clouds as scientists debate if the clouds in this picture are in fact unique. Some articles featuring this picture, include some meteorologists quoting to have spotted a similar type of cloud formation and these clouds may not be uncommon at all. There may also be a name for this formation 'altocumulus undulatus asperatus' (see this link for the article). Nevertheless, the clouds in the picture are certainly memorizing and the mystery behind the photo is enough to incite the mind.
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