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What happens inside a cloud?
Cloud-scale Processes
The dry downdrafts and moist updrafts in cumulus clouds sometimes interact just
right to allow the cloud to persist for several hours. Also, the updraft can
rotate, in which case a
tornado can form.
What happens at the top of clouds? Clouds with strong updrafts can extend
throughout the entire
troposphere.
When the clouds reach the top of the troposphere (the tropopause), their
vertical, or upward, movement is stopped by the very stable
stratosphere.
Unlike in the troposphere, air in the stratosphere increases with height, so the
rising air quickly becomes cooler than its surroundings and sinks. The
tropopause acts like a lid for clouds, but the rising air has to go somewhere,
so it spreads out from the top of the cloud. The spreading cloud often looks
like an anvil, or hat on the top of the cloud, and is made entirely of ice.
Next page
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Large-scale processes
Links and resources
Cloud-scale Processes
The dry downdrafts and moist updrafts in cumulus clouds sometimes interact just
right to allow the cloud to persist for several hours. Also, the updraft can
rotate, in which case a
tornado can form.
What happens at the top of clouds? Clouds with strong updrafts can extend
throughout the entire
troposphere.
When the clouds reach the top of the troposphere (the tropopause), their
vertical, or upward, movement is stopped by the very stable
stratosphere.
Unlike in the troposphere, air in the stratosphere increases with height, so the
rising air quickly becomes cooler than its surroundings and sinks. The
tropopause acts like a lid for clouds, but the rising air has to go somewhere,
so it spreads out from the top of the cloud. The spreading cloud often looks
like an anvil, or hat on the top of the cloud, and is made entirely of ice.
Next page
->
Large-scale processes
Links and resources
