Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Basics
- 2 Radiation
- 3 Temperature
- 4 Humidity
- 5 Wind
- 6 Barometric pressure
- 7 Evaporation
- 8 Precipitation
- 9 Soil moisture and groundwater
- 10 Rivers and lakes
- 11 Data logging
- 12 Telemetry
- 13 Visibility
- 14 Clouds
- 15 Lightning
- 16 The upper atmosphere
- 17 The oceans
- 18 Cold regions
- 19 Remote sensing
- 20 Atmospheric composition
- 21 Forward look
- Appendix: abbreviations and acronyms
- Index
- References
14 - Clouds
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Basics
- 2 Radiation
- 3 Temperature
- 4 Humidity
- 5 Wind
- 6 Barometric pressure
- 7 Evaporation
- 8 Precipitation
- 9 Soil moisture and groundwater
- 10 Rivers and lakes
- 11 Data logging
- 12 Telemetry
- 13 Visibility
- 14 Clouds
- 15 Lightning
- 16 The upper atmosphere
- 17 The oceans
- 18 Cold regions
- 19 Remote sensing
- 20 Atmospheric composition
- 21 Forward look
- Appendix: abbreviations and acronyms
- Index
- References
Summary
The sun was setting, and a gentle southerly breeze, striking against the southern side of the rock, mingled its current with the colder air above: the vapour was thus condensed: but as the light wreaths of cloud passed over the ridge, and came within the influence of the warmer atmosphere of the northern sloping bank, they were immediately redissolved.
Charles Darwin Voyage of the Beagle (observing the Corcovado Mountain in Rio de Janeiro).The variable and its history
Observations of the extent, height and type of cloud-cover are important for many purposes, including meteorology and aviation, and also now for climatology, since clouds have a considerable influence on the energy budget of the Earth. At present, climate modellers have a problem in predicting change in part because of the difficulty of representing clouds in the models. Low, liquid-water clouds tend to cool the climate, the higher ice clouds to warm it, but there is the complication of supercooled cloud when the drops remain liquid well below the freezing point, for they reflect almost half the incoming solar radiation and so lead to cooling while the models might assume from their temperature that they are made of ice. At present all the effects appear to be nearly in balance, but with a slight net cooling. To improve the models it is important to compare what they foretell with what actually happens. The measurement of clouds thus takes on a new important role.
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- Information
- Measuring the Natural Environment , pp. 343 - 360Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2003