By David K. Lynch, Kenneth Sassen, David O'C. Starr, Graeme Stephens
Cirrus clouds are excessive, skinny, tropospheric clouds composed predominately of ice. within the final ten years, enormous paintings has proven that cirrus is widespread--more universal than formerly believed--and has an important impression on weather and international switch. because the subsequent iteration climate satellites are being designed, the influence of cirrus on distant sensing and the worldwide strength finances needs to be famous and accommodated. This publication, the 1st to be committed solely to cirrus clouds, captures the country of information of cirrus and serves as a pragmatic guide to boot. every one bankruptcy relies on an invited assessment speak provided at Cirrus, a gathering hosted through the Optical Society of the US and co-sponsored through the yankee Geophysical Union and the yankee Meteorological Society. All elements of cirrus clouds are coated, an strategy that reaches into assorted fields. themes contain: the definition of cirrus, cirrus climatologies, nucleation, evolution and dissipation, mixed-phase thermodynamics, crystallinity, orientation mechanisms, dynamics, scattering, radiative move, in situ sampling, techniques that produce or impact cirrus (and vice versa), contrails, and the impact of cirrus on weather.
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In his booklet, John eco-friendly offers a distinct own perception into the basics of fluid mechanics and atmospheric dynamics. Generations of scholars have benefited from his lectures, and this publication, decades within the making, is the results of his huge instructing and examine event. the speculation of fluid circulation has constructed to such an quantity that very complicated arithmetic and types are at present used to explain it, yet the various primary effects persist with from quite easy issues: those vintage ideas are derived right here in a singular, detailed, and from time to time even idiosyncratic, manner.
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In summary, empirical evidence indicates that under certain circumstances cirrus can be initially generated with the aid of transient SLW-dominated cloud regions. Although the debate continues whether these highly supercooled cloud droplets freeze into ice crystals via the homogeneous or heterogeneous mechanism, it is revealing that SLW clouds appear to completely glaciate beginning at about -35°C, when the homogeneous freezing process starts to become important (Sassen and Dodd 1988). FARS cirrus cloud top temperature climatology demonstrates that visually identified cirrus clouds form infrequently with the aid of SLW.
1998), but they have been assigned other designations. The altostratus cloud is also ice dominated and often results from deepening cirrostratus, but it is classified as a mid-level cloud because of its considerable depth and dark appearance. Low-level ice clouds derived from glaciated water clouds often generate exceptional optical displays in Arctic and Antarctic regions (see Greenler 1980; Tape 1994). In comparison, complex halo/arc displays are rarely observed in cirrus, although the common 22° halo and associated arcs are frequent at many mid-latitude locations.
10). With regard to this last finding, we can now add that cirrus are characteristically gray emitters with e < 1 (see chapter 10). 6. Cirrus and Supercooled Liquid Water As for the assertion that the liquid phase may not be predominantly responsible for cirrus cloud formation and maintenance, there are three cases that need elaboration. The first is the production of anvil cirrus, where strong updrafts may raise frozen cloud drops from the lower cloud into the upper troposphere. Because this form of ice nucleation would cease by about -40°C, when haze particle homogeneous freezing would take over, it is likely that large ice particles from the lower portions of a cumulonimbus would soon settle out and not have a significant impact on the future anvil cirrus cloud in the maintenance stage.