Clouds With Vertical Development

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Clouds of this type range in height from less than 1.6 km (1 mi) to more than 13 km (8 mi) above the earth. Two main forms are included in this group. Cumulus clouds are dome-shaped, woolpack clouds most often seen during the middle and latter part of the day, when solar heating produces the vertical air currents necessary for their formation. These clouds usually have flat bases and rounded, cauliflowerlike tops. Cumulonimbus clouds are dark, heavy-looking clouds rising like mountains high into the atmosphere, often showing an anvil-shaped veil of ice clouds, false cirrus, at the top. Popularly known as thunderheads, cumulonimbus clouds are usually accompanied by heavy, abrupt showers.

An anomalous, but exceptionally beautiful, group of clouds contains the nacreous, or mother-of-pearl, clouds, which are 19 to 29 km (12 to 18 mi) high, and the noctilucent clouds, 51 to 56 km (32 to 35 mi) high. These very thin clouds may be seen only between sunset and sunrise and are visible only in high latitudes.

The development of the high-altitude airplane has introduced a species of artificial clouds known as contrails (condensation trails). They are formed from the condensed water vapor ejected as a part of the engine-exhaust gases.

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