How much of the world is on the cloud?

They found that globally, roughly 67% of the Earth is covered in clouds. While they found little diurnal variation in cloud cover, the researchers calculated that slightly more clouds cover the oceans in the afternoon and land has slightly less cloud cover during that time.

Are there more clouds over land or sea?

The ocean is cloudier than the land, with average total cloud covers of 68% and 54% respectively. It is particularly the low clouds that are much more common over the ocean.

How many mile is it to the clouds?

According to “The Cloud Spotter's Guide” (by Gavin Pretor-Pinney, Perigee Books, 2006), a puffy cumulus cloud (cumulus mediocris) averages about 2500 feet altitude (1/2 mile) over flat land.

What is the highest cloud ever recorded?

28, 1990, developed from a thunderstorm that towered to 65,000 feet. Earth's tallest thunderstorms form in the tropics, where tops have been measured to about 75,000 feet — more than 14 miles into the atmosphere.

What is Earth's rarest cloud?

What is asperitas cloud? Asperitas (formerly referred to as Undulatus Asperitas) is a distinctive, but relatively rare cloud formation that takes the appearance of rippling waves. These wave-like structures form on the underside of the cloud to makes it look like a rough sea surface when viewed from below.

15 STRANGE CLOUDS seen around the world

What's the rarest cloud?

Noctilucent clouds - the rarest clouds in the world - have glowed like shimmering cobwebs in the sky over the San Francisco Bay Area, US and experts think they were likely the result of a rocket launch.

How heavy is a cloud?

Answer: Thus, a 'typical' fair weather cumulus cloud "weighs" about 1 billion 400 million pounds, or about 800 million pounds less than dry air of equal volume. Thats a lot of weight!

At what speed do clouds move?

The wind moves the clouds. Depending on how fast the winds are blowing at the level of the clouds will determine how fast the clouds are traveling. High cirrus clouds are pushed along by the jet stream and can travel at more than 100 mph. Clouds that are part of a thunderstorm usually travel at 30 to 40 mph.

How far can a cloud travel in a day?

The simple answer is, clouds can travel for hundreds of miles in one day, but it just depends on where they formed in the atmosphere. Low clouds can form as low as 5,000 feet, where other clouds, such as cirrus, form at 30,000+ feet.

Are clouds liquid or gas?

Clouds appear when there is too much water vapour for the air to hold. The water vapour (gas) then condenses to form tiny water droplets (liquid), and it is the water that makes the cloud visible. These droplets are so small that they stay suspended in the air.

Why are Hawaii clouds so low?

The cyclonic eddy of the mechanical wake behind the island of Hawaii favors the formation of low-level clouds (below 2.5 km), and the anticyclonic eddy suppresses the low-level cloud formation, indicative of the dynamical effect on the vertical structure of low-level clouds.

What keeps clouds in the sky?

Water droplets in air behave the same way as dust⁶. The second reason that clouds can float in the air is that there is a constant flow of warm air rising to meet the cloud: the warm air pushes up on the cloud and keeps it afloat.

What cloud is closest to Earth?

Stratus clouds are horizontal and stratified, or layered. Stratus clouds can blanket the entire sky in a single pattern. They usually occur close to the Earth.

Do clouds keep heat in at night?

Clouds can trap that heat from the Sun. At night, when there's no sunlight, clouds are still trapping heat. It's sort of like clouds are wrapping Earth in a big, warm blanket. So clouds can have both a cooling effect and a warming effect.

Did Earth start as a huge cloud of gas?

The Sun and the planets formed together, 4.6 billion years ago, from a cloud of gas and dust called the solar nebula. A shock wave from a nearby supernova explosion probably initiated the collapse of the solar nebula. The Sun formed in the center, and the planets formed in a thin disk orbiting around it.

Why do clouds turn GREY?

As the size and concentration of the hydrometeors increases, less and less sunlight penetrates the cloud, resulting in multiple scattering. We perceive these clouds as dark clouds in varying shades of grey.

Why are clouds white?

In a cloud sunlight is scattered equally, meaning that the sunlight continues to remain white and gives clouds their distinctive white appearance.

Are the clouds moving or are we?

Clouds move in response to the local winds. Although the air immediately around you may be still, the winds are far stronger thousands of metres higher up. That is why clouds are usually in motion, even on apparently windless days. But part of a cloud's motion is indeed governed by Earth's rotation.

Can we sit on a cloud?

You can NOT sit on a cloud they are made out of of very tiny droplets of water or ice crystals that form together to make a cloud. They are not dense enough.

Is a cloud heavier than an elephant?

Viewed from a plane, clouds appear fluffy and light, but in fact the water droplets and ice crystals making up the average cumulus cloud (1km cubed in size) weigh around 550 tonnes – the same as a herd of 100 African elephants. Meanwhile, a towering thunderstorm cloud is equivalent to 200,000 elephants.

How many gallons of water are in a cloud?

A large cumulus cloud that you might find on a nice summer day is made up of about 1 million pounds of water drops. A thunderstorm cloud contains enough water drops to fill up approximately 275 million gallon jars. That's about 2.3 billion pounds, or 1.1 million tons of water.

Has any human touched a cloud?

Unfortunately, it does not feel like cotton balls or cotton candy, but most people have technically touched a cloud before. If you wanted to touch an airborne cloud, the best way to do this is either skydiving or in a hot air balloon, though I would not want to be stuck in a cloud while in a hot air balloon.

What is the most violent cloud?

Cumulonimbus clouds are associated with extreme weather such as heavy torrential downpours, hail storms, lightning and even tornadoes.

Is there a black cloud?

Drs. Malcolm and Loyal: In nature, there is no such thing as a “Black cloud”. There are white appearing clouds on sunny days and gray appearing clouds on stormy ones.