Table of Contents
How does topography affect cloud formation?
2) Clouds are also formed when air encounters mountains or other topography. The air rises and cools and, again, the air cannot hold all of the water it held when warm so clouds form. Related to number 2, if air is forced to rise because of topography that slopes upwards, clouds may also form.
What factors affect cloud formation?
For instance, temperature, humidity and altitude are all factors that affect cloud formation. But how do clouds move and eventually disappear? The difference between air within a cloud and the air surrounding it dictates cloud movement.
What are 3 conditions needed for cloud formation?
Students will discover that three main ingredients are needed for clouds to form: moisture, condensation, and temperature. 2. Evaporation and condensation are part of how a cloud forms.
What is responsible for cloud formation?
Condensation is the process by which water vapor in the air is changed into liquid water. Condensation is crucial to the water cycle because it is responsible for the formation of clouds.
What prevents cloud formation?
This allows the parcel of air to rise until all of the ‘surplus’ water vapor has condensed and all the latent heat has been released. Therefore, the main reason which stops clouds growing upwards is the end of the release of latent heat through the condensation process.
How do particles influence clouds and cloud formation?
Aerosol particles serve as condensation nuclei for water vapor in the atmosphere. Atmospheric water molecules are drawn to aerosol particles like magnets, forming water droplets and eventually creating a cloud.
What two conditions are required for cloud formation?
Moisture – There must be sufficient water vapor in the air to build a cloud. Cooling air – The air temperature must decrease enough for water vapor to condense.
Why does smoke contribute to cloud formation?
For clouds to form, the ground needs to be warmer and the air cooler so that moisture on the ground can evaporate, rise and condense higher in the atmosphere. By narrowing the temperature gap between the ground and the air, smoke suppresses cloud formation and growth.
How do mountains cause clouds to form?
Another way that mountains cause cloud formation is when air rises because the mountain is warmer than the surrounding air and causes the air to rise. Once the air rises, it follows the same process to form clouds as described above. The types of clouds that form in this case are cumulonimbus (and associated mammatus clouds), and cumulus.
How does cloud development occur?
Cloud Development – Topographic Lifting Simply, air is forced up and over a topographical barrier -such as a hill or mountain The windward side will be cloudy and wet as air ascends The leeward side will be warmer and drier as the air descends – often called a rain shadow
How does heat affect the formation of clouds?
Heat causes some of the liquid water – from places like oceans, rivers and swimming pools – to change into an invisible gas called water vapor. This process is called evaporation and it’s the start of how clouds are formed.
How are clouds formed in a low pressure system?
Winds meet at the center of the low pressure system and have nowhere to go but up. All types of clouds are formed by these processes, especially altocumulus, altostratus, cirrocumulus, stratocumulus, or stratus clouds. Weather fronts, where two large masses of air collide at the Earth’s surface, also form clouds by causing air to rise.