Cumulonimbus cloud

         CUMULONIMBUS CLOUD (CB)

   'Cumulonimbus' (CB) is also called 'thunderstorm clouds'. The name ' Cumulonimbus' means 'Rain Heap'. There are two different types of Cumulonimbus clouds:

•  Calvus meaning 'the bald'. It is called 'The Bald' because it has a rounded fluffy top and no anvil. (Shown below)

•  Capillatus meaning 'hair'. It is called this because unlike the Calvus, the Capillatus gas an anvil. (Shown below)                                            
  
  
  
  
  

    When you see this cloud it looks like a towing almost castle like, with a fluffy cauliflower look, or else with a flat anvil top. This enormous cloud is sometimes refers to as the ' king cloud ', or ' cloud 9'.

  
  

  
  
  

  These cloud extend over the whole height o the Troposphere, there are even some occurrences when they reach up into the lower Stratosphere. The Cumulonimbus cloud can generate thunderstorms that release as much energy as an atomic bomb! Cumulonimbus develops in unstable and moist atmospheric conditions. It continues to rise because it is continually warmed by latent heat. Latent heat: is energy released or absorbed, by a body or a thermodynamic system, during a constant-temperature process that is specified in some way. An example is latent heat of fusion for a phase change, melting, at a specified temperature and pressure.

  
  

  When the cloud is over you it is almost impossible to tell whether it is a Nimbustratus or an Cumulonimbus cloud over your head. Some ways to figure if its a Cumulonimbus is if there are:

  
  

  •  Strong Winds
  • Thunder and/or lightning

  Cumulonimbus clouds can produce large quantities of rain, severe weather such as hail, heavy snow, and tornadoes. 
     An Anvil is produced in the highest area of the Troposphere where its coldest. The Anvil is made up of frozen water particles, clumped up in a thin layer of ice on top if the cumulonimbus cloud.
     Cumulonimbus clouds penetrate the atmosphere to great heights and their rapid updraft speeds ans turbulence's, are best avoided by aircraft, but it is the effects closer to the ground that are most evident to us. The downdraft associated with the fall of rain can be great, releasing a strong, cold storm outflow near the ground.
      Powerful thunderstorms often have a line of towering Cumulus Congestus clouds leading up to the main part of the storm. These clouds are called 'Flanking clouds'. They are fed by an outflow of cold air, and may eventually merge into the parent storm.
      
  

  

  
  
    'Fractus Clouds' are shreds of clouds often seen below Cumulonimbus. They are a adornment cloud, having been torn off of a larger cloud by strong winds. Customarily short-lived, and may develop and merge with other clouds, or else they dissipate.
  

  

  
  
  

    'Mammatus clouds' (also called 'breast clouds') are formed on the under side of an anvil top when strong downdrafts push bundles of warm moist air into an area of cooler air. When most people see the Mammatus cloud they think something bad is about to happen, but actually it signifies the ending of a bad storm.

   

  
      'Pileus clouds' are associated with the Cumulonimbus clouds. Pileus clouds form over the tops of the rising cumulonimbus.When rising air pushes up a cold, moist layer sufficiently fast for it to cool, and further saturate and grow ice crystals.
  

  

  
  

                   THUNDERSTORMS

      At any given time, about 2,000 Thunderstorms rage across Earth. Storms can result anywhere in the world, but most generally take place in equilateral reqions. All Thunderstorms have lightning, but other than that storm attributes vary widely. Most Thunderstorms bring brief, intense rainfall, followed by strokes of lightning. A small group of Thunderstorms can bring extreme weather. Less common features are flooding rains, heavy hail, and tornado's. 

       'Lightning' heats the air greatly, causing it to expand violently, which is a great crashing noise called 'thunder'. Lightning is a giant spark created when an enormous imbalance of positive and negative charge transpire. There in fact are four different types of lightning:

  • Intracloud Lightning, is the most common type of lightning. this is an arc between the upper and lower parts of the cloud that have opposite charges.Also called 'Cloud-to-cloud'.
    
    

  • Inter-cloud Lightning, is a less common type of lighting. This type of lightning discharges between adjacent Cumulonimbus clouds, when their areas of opposite charge are located close to each other.
    
  • Cloud-to-ground negative polarity, strikes connect to the negative at the bottom of the Thunderstorm and the positive charge attracted in the ground beneath.
    
  • Cloud- to-ground positive polarity, strikes connect to the positive charge high in the Thunderstorm and a negative charge that is attracted in the ground below.
    
    
    
  
      The power of a Thunderstorm is very strong. So powerful that the amount of energy generated in an average Thunderstorm is 10 times as much as the energy generated by The World's Largest Hydroelectric Dam, which produced 3,427 terawatt-hours in 2010. 
      The energy of the storm is released when the water vapor condenses and rain falls. most of the energy heats up in the atmosphere, but a small amount drives the strong winds that comes along with Cumulonimbus. 
      The three main ingredients for creating Thunderstorms are: 
  • moisture
  • instability
  • lift (turbulence)

     Thunderstorms are generated by convection (convection: in Meteorology and Oceanology, the up and down motion of air or water caused by temperature difference). One way to trigger convection is by heating the bottom of the atmosphere, for example the heat is managed into the air. The heated air becomes light and resilient causing the air to rise, similar to the hot air in a Hot-Air Balloon. 
      

El Nino

                                          El Nino

   El Nino is triggered when -for unknown reasons-the trade winds ( trade winds: a wind blowing steadily toward the equator from the northeast in the northern hemisphere or the southeast in the southern hemisphere, especially at sea. Two belts of trade winds encircle the earth, blowing from the tropical high-pressure belts to the low-pressure zone at the equator) weaken or reverse direction and blow from west to east. This process allows a large majority of water from Indonesia, to move eastward along the equator until i reaches the South American coast.
   The name 'El Nino' or 'Christ Child', was used by the fisher men along the coast of the equator and Peru, but the El Nino warmed their cool nutrient rich waters they depended on. This warming disrupted their marine food chain in the district causing the local economy to suffer from the loss of fish. 
   El Nino is a wide-range warming of the near-surface of the water in the equatorial Pacific Ocean between South America and the international date line. The warming happens in the connection with changes in the atmosphere over the same district, which are known as the 'southern Oscillation'. 'Southern oscillation' means opposing swings of surface atmosphere pressure between the eastern and the western tropical pacific ocean, associated with El Nino and La Nina.
   During El Nino occurrence, there are two distinct changes:
                          (1) Cold coastal waters are replaced by warm waters.
                          (2) The height of the ocean surface drops over Indonesia and rises on the eastern Pacific Ocean, forcing the thermocline ( a zone of the ocean in which the temperature decreases rapidly with depth) lower near south America and preventing upwelling. 
    Meteorologist's use satellites to measure both of these features that comes with El Nino with an active sensor called an 'Altimeter'. (Below shows what they see from the Altimeter).

     El Nino is an example of the interaction between the atmosphere and the ocean, and how these interactions can affect the climate. 
     Waters off the western coast of South America, is a typical area to experience upwelling. Upwelling is an oceanographic phenomenon that involves wind-driven motion of dense, cooler, and usually nutrient-rich water towards the ocean surface, replacing the warmer, usually nutrient-depleted surface water. This is because the Southerly winds combined with the Subtropical high causes the water to be moved off shore, to the left of the wind. 'Subtropical': Bordering on the characteristics warm, subtropical waters, also called 'Semitropical'.
     The upwelling waters are cold and rich in nutrients. Every few years, the upwelling slows or sometimes stops in the district, turning the ocean warmer sometimes reaching 7 °F above normal. This warming occurrence usually first appears around Christmas, off the coast of South America. this can last for several months. El Nino warming have occurred systematically every 2-7 years in the past century. (The red shows El Nino, while the blue shows La Nina).

     In normal circumstances the SST's (Sea Surface Temperature) off the coast of Peru are cold because of upwelling, and waters from the Western equilateral Pacific are warm. Off South American's western coast the SST's are 14 degree's cooler that the SST's in the western Pacific. Steady trade of winds from the east, push the water toward Indonesia. This raises the the level of the ocean by about 1/2 meters higher compared to the South American coast. The water flows westward, it warms up . This is a result of hindrance of solar energy and heat exchange with the atmosphere. Over the Pacific ocean, the warm water evaporates and is followed by precipitation.  
     

                  EL NINO'S AFFECT ON GLOBAL WEATHER                                                     PATTERNS

   The western Pacific experiences below- normal precipitation, as heavy rain follows the warm water and more eastward toward South America, during El Nino.
    The shift in the large Tropical Rain Clouds alters the patterns of the Subtropical Jets Streams. Subtropical Jet Streams: a region of strong winds typically found in the upper Troposphere (see 'The Layers Of The Atmoshpere') between 20 and 40 degrees latitude. The are rising in these thunder storms moves north and strengthens the Subtropical Jet Streams over South America. (The picture below shows the connection between El Nino and thunderstorms).

   
                                                                                                                                                                  

Altostratus, Altocumulus

              ALTOSTRATUS (AS)
    
   'Altostratus' means 'high spread out'. Altostratus are a featureless cloud, that can form to a thin cloud with an almost watery appearance to a thick dense gray layer that can block out the sun completely. 
    Altostratus forms when a large moist air mass slowly lifts into the middle layer of the atmosphere and condenses. This processes occurs usually by an incoming frontal system. Which may result in an extensive cloud deck that can extend thousands of square miles. 

Altostratus doesn't normally
bring large amounts of rain, but can bring a light drizzle or light snow. Eventually the Altostratus 
builds up to form the Nimbostratus.  
(Altostratus symbol)

              ALTOCUMULUS(AC)
     'Altocumulus' is the Latin word for ' high,heaps'. Altocumulus form varies and is always unique. This cloud can be flat featureless, to a parallel roll cloud. Altocumulus does not usually bring rain, but on some occasions it can produce a light drizzle.

   Altocumulus forms when the middle layer of the atmosphere is moist and unstable being lifted.
Consisting of super cooled water droplets or ice crystals (sometimes both)








    (Altocumulus's symbol is shown below)

Stratocumulus (SC)

                   STRATOCUMULUS (SC)

     'Stratocumulus' means 'spread-out heap'. Stratocumulus is a result of weak convection or form when a frontal system lifts a large, moist air mass. When this cloud forms its a good sign that moisture is in the lower levels of the atmosphere. 
    Stratocumulus is a low hanging cloud, appearing as a white or gray layer covering the sky. This cloud often forms into rows or patches.

       
    Stratocumulus is common along coastlines and in valleys. Marine Stratocumulus are very common off the California and South American coastline. These clouds can also form during fronts.
    When a large storm occurs, Stratocumulus are often the last clouds to appear before the sky's clear completely. Stratocumulus does not bring rain. However if the atmosphere is unstable the Stratocumulus can grow into a cloud that does produce rain and or snow.  
       The symbol for Stratocumulus: