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Credit & Copyright: Michael F Johnston
Explanation:
When do cloud bottoms appear like bubbles?
Normally,
cloud bottoms are flat.
This is because moist warm air
that rises and cools will condense into water droplets at a specific
temperature,
which usually corresponds to a very specific height.
As water
droplets grow, an opaque cloud forms.
Under some conditions, however, cloud pockets can develop that contain large droplets
of water or ice
that fall into clear air as they evaporate.
Such pockets may occur in
turbulent
air near a thunderstorm.
Resulting mammatus clouds can appear especially
dramatic if
sunlit from the side.
The
mammatus clouds
pictured here, lasting only a few minutes, were photographed over
Regina,
Saskatchewan,
Canada,
just after a storm in 2012.
Meteor Shower Tonight:
Peak
of the Perseids
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: clouds
Publications with words: clouds
See also:
- APOD: 2024 November 19 Á Undulatus Clouds over Las Campanas Observatory
- APOD: 2024 July 7 Á Iridescent Clouds over Sweden
- APOD: 2023 August 20 Á A Roll Cloud Over Wisconsin
- APOD: 2023 February 12 Á Mammatus Clouds over Nebraska
- Nacreous Clouds over Lapland
- A Retreating Thunderstorm at Sunset
- A Fire Rainbow over West Virginia