Understanding Stratus Clouds, Characteristics and Types
Here are the Characteristics and Types of Stratus Clouds You Should Know! What do you see when you look up at the sky? The vastness of the sky that you see, of course, there are white clouds there, many like the clouds like giant cotton lumps.
However, not always the clouds you see are white, there are times when the clouds are also gray-black. Instantly the atmosphere changes and it will rain, or even a light drizzle.
A cloud is a mass that you can see in the presence of water droplets or frozen crystals. However, this is very dependent on the state of the earth’s atmosphere. There are also problems that are encountered and are often encountered.
One of them is a high cloud where some of the cloud contains cold water droplets, which are generally 0.01 mm in size. This process makes the surrounding air cool because of the energy released.
Clouds can look even darker if they are in the infrared region, because the water will absorb solar radiation at long wavelengths. Actually there are many types of clouds, all of them are different.
The difference is the height of the clouds in the sky, the shape, and other characteristics of these clouds. One type of cloud that is known to many people, namely stratus clouds.
About Stratus Cloud
The term stratus used in naming these clouds indicates the presence of stratification or layering of several clouds formed. The layering of these clouds is shaped like a sheet or a thin layer. These clouds also belong to the ten basic forms of clouds called genera.
Stratus clouds are clouds that form fog and are located at low altitudes, which consist of water droplets and are less than 2 km away. Despite the low altitude, these clouds have the potential to develop into nimbostratus clouds, which can produce rain and bad weather.
These clouds have a uniform shape, usually thin flat with a gray color. Generally, these clouds only have the potential to drizzle, rarely produce rain because of the vertical upward movement that causes the deposition process to be very weak. However, these clouds also interfere with flight and radio wave signals.
Stratus Cloud Characteristics
Each cloud has characteristics that distinguish one cloud from another. The following are the characteristics of stratus clouds that you should know:
- The process of cloud formation is at an altitude of approximately 2 km above sea level.
- These clouds have the possibility to develop into nimbostratus, altostratus, and several other types of clouds.
- Able to cover the surface of the sky because it has a gray or gray white color.
- The shape of this cloud is like woven, in the form of flat and thin sheets.
Stratus Cloud Types
These clouds can combine with other clouds or undergo changes. Of course it will produce a new type of cloud. The types that you should know include:
- Altostratus clouds, shaped like broad sheets that are structured and have the potential for rain to snow.
- Nimbostratus clouds, generally gray to dark in color, have a relatively low altitude of 600m – 3km.
- Stratocumulus clouds, have the form of clumps with colors that vary from gray to bright white.
- Cirrostratus clouds, shaped like thin white fibers, are usually at an altitude between 5.5km – 13km.
That was a brief description of stratus clouds that you should know in order to add insight and be useful for the future. If there is an error in the information submitted, I apologize and thank you.
