Stratosphere and mesosphere

The stratosphere is located above the troposphere and extends up to about 50 km (30 miles). Above the tropopause and the isothermal layer in the lower stratosphere, temperature increases with height. Temperatures as high as 0 °C (32 °F) are observed near the top of the stratosphere. The observed increase of temperature with height in the stratosphere results in strong thermodynamic stability with little turbulence and vertical mixing. The warm temperatures and very dry air result in an almost cloud-free volume. The infrequent clouds that do occur are called nacreous, or mother-of-pearl, clouds because of their striking iridescence, and they appear to be composed of both ice and supercooled water. These clouds form up to heights of 30 km (19 miles).

The pattern of temperature increase with height in the stratosphere is the result of solar heating as ultraviolet radiation in the wavelength range of 0.200 to 0.242 micrometre dissociates diatomic oxygen (O2). The resultant attachment of single oxygen atoms to O2 produces ozone (O3). Natural stratospheric ozone is produced mainly in the tropical and middle latitudes. Regions of nearly complete ozone depletion, which have occurred in the Antarctic during the spring, are associated with nacreous clouds, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and other pollutants from human activities. These regions are more commonly known as ozone holes. Ozone is also transported downward into the troposphere, primarily in the vicinity of the polar front.

The stratopause caps the top of the stratosphere, separating it from the mesosphere near 45–50 km (28–31 miles) in altitude and a pressure of 1 millibar (approximately equal to 0.75 mm of mercury at 0 °C, or 0.03 inch of mercury at 32 °F). In the mesosphere, temperatures again decrease with increasing altitude. Unlike the situation in the stratosphere, vertical air currents in the mesosphere are not strongly inhibited. Ice crystal clouds, called noctilucent clouds, occasionally form in the upper mesosphere. Above the mesopause, a region occurring at altitudes near 85 to 90 km (50 to 55 miles), temperature again increases with height in a layer called the thermosphere.


Temperatures in the thermosphere range from near 500 K (approximately 227 °C, or 440 °F) during periods of low sunspot activity to 2,000 K (1,725 °C, or 3,137 °F) when the Sun is active. The thermopause, defined as the level of transition to a more or less isothermal temperature profile at the top of the thermosphere, occurs at heights of around 250 km (150 miles) during quiet Sun periods and almost 500 km (300 miles) when the Sun is active. Above 500 km, molecular collisions are infrequent enough that temperature is difficult to define.

The portion of the thermosphere where charged particles (ions) are abundant is called the ionosphere. These ions result from the removal of electrons from atmospheric gases by solar ultraviolet radiation. Extending from about 80 to 300 km (about 50 to 185 miles) in altitude, the ionosphere is an electrically conducting region capable of reflecting radio signals back to Earth.

Maximum ion density, a condition that makes for efficient radio transmission, occurs within two sublayers: the lower E region, which exists from 90 to 120 km (about 55 to 75 miles) in altitude; and the F region, which exists from 150 to 300 km (about 90 to 185 miles) in altitude. The F region has two maxima (i.e., two periods of highest ion density) during daylight hours, called F1 and F2. Both the F1 and F2 regions possess high ion density and are strongly influenced by both solar activity and time of day. Of these, the F2 region is the more variable of the two and may reach an ion density as high as 106 electrons per cubic centimetre. Shortwave radio transmissions, capable of reaching around the world, take advantage of the ability of layers in the ionosphere to reflect certain wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation. In addition, electrical discharges from the tops of thunderstorms into the ionosphere, called transient luminous events, have been observed.

Magnetosphere and exosphere

Above approximately 500 km (300 miles), the motion of ions is strongly constrained by the presence of Earth’s magnetic field. This region of Earth’s atmosphere, called the magnetosphere, is compressed by the solar wind on the daylight side of the planet and stretched outward in a long tail on the night side. The colourful auroral displays often seen in polar latitudes are associated with bursts of high-energy particles generated by the Sun. When these particles are influenced by the magnetosphere, some are subsequently injected into the lower ionosphere.


Horizontal structure of the atmosphere

Distribution of heat from the Sun

The primary driving force for the horizontal structure of Earth’s atmosphere is the amount and distribution of solar radiation that comes in contact with the planet. Earth’s orbit around the Sun is an ellipse, with a perihelion (closest approach) of 147.5 million km (91.7 million miles) in early January and an aphelion (farthest distance) of 152.6 million km (94.8 million miles) in early July. As a result of Earth’s elliptical orbit, the time between the autumnal equinox and the following vernal equinox (about September 22 to about March 21) is almost one week shorter than the remainder of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. This results in a shorter astronomical winter in the Northern Hemisphere than in the Southern Hemisphere.

Earth rotates once every 24 hours around an axis that is tilted at an angle of 23°30′ with respect to the plane of its orbit around the Sun. As a result of this tilt, during the summer season of either the Northern or the Southern Hemisphere, the Sun’s rays are more direct at a given latitude than they are during the winter season. Poleward of latitudes 66°30′ N and 66°30′ S, the tilt of the planet is such that for at least one complete day (at 66°30′) and as long as six months (at 90°), the Sun is above the horizon during the summer season and below the horizon during the winter.

As a result of this asymmetric distribution of solar heating, during the winter season the troposphere in the high latitudes becomes very cold. In contrast, during the summer at high latitudes, the troposphere warms significantly as a result of the long hours of daylight; however, owing to the oblique angle of the sunlight near the poles, the temperatures there remain relatively cool compared with middle latitudes. Equatorward of latitudes 30° N and 30° S or so, substantial radiant heating from the Sun occurs during both winter and summer seasons. The tropical troposphere, therefore, has comparatively little variation in temperature during the year.

Convection, circulation, and deflection of air

The region of greatest solar heating at the surface in the humid tropics corresponds to areas of deep cumulonimbus convection. Cumulonimbus clouds routinely form in the tropics where rising parcels of air are warmer than the surrounding ambient atmosphere. They transport water vapour, sensible heat, and Earth’s rotational momentum to the upper portion of the troposphere. As a result of the vigorous convective mixing of the atmosphere, the tropopause in the lower latitudes is often very high, located some 17 to 18 km (10.5 to 11 miles) above the surface.

Since motion upward into the stratosphere is inhibited by very stable thermal layering, the air transported upward by convection diverges toward the poles in the upper troposphere. (This divergence aloft results in a wide strip of low atmospheric pressure at the surface in the tropics, occurring in an area called the equatorial trough). As the diverted air in the troposphere moves toward the poles, it tends to retain the angular momentum of the near-equatorial region, which is large as a result of Earth’s rotation. As a result, the poleward-moving air is deflected toward the right in the Northern Hemisphere and toward the left in the Southern Hemisphere.

Upon reaching around 30° of latitude poleward of its region of origin, the upper-level air is traveling primarily toward the poles and is tending toward the east. Since motion upward is constrained by the stratosphere, the slowly cooling air must descend. The compressional warming that occurs as the air descends creates vast regions of subtropical high pressure. These regions are centred over the oceans and are characterized by strong thermodynamic stability. The sparse precipitation in these regions, a result of stability and subsidence, is associated with such great arid regions of the world as the Sahara, Atacama, Kalahari, and Sonoran deserts. The accumulation of air as a result of the convergence in the upper troposphere causes deep high-pressure systems, known as subtropical ridges, to form in these regions. Locally, these ridges are given such names as the Bermuda High, the Azores High, and the North Pacific High.

The descending air referred to above, upon reaching the lower troposphere, is forced to diverge by the presence of Earth’s surface. Some air moves poleward, while the remainder moves equatorward. In either direction, the air is deflected to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. Deflection occurs because, in accordance with Newton’s first law of motion, a parcel moving in a certain direction will retain the same motion unless acted on by an exterior force. With respect to a rotating Earth, a moving parcel conserving its momentum (i.e., not acted on by an exterior force) will appear to be deflected with respect to fixed points on the rotating Earth. As seen from a fixed point in space, such a parcel would be moving in a straight line. This apparent force on the motion of a fluid (in this case, air) is called the Coriolis effect. As a result of the Coriolis effect, air tends to rotate counterclockwise around large-scale low-pressure systems and clockwise around large-scale high-pressure systems in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, the flow direction is reversed.

In the equatorward-moving flow, this deflection results in northeast winds north of 0° latitude and southeast winds south of that latitude. These low-level winds have been called the trade winds since 17th-century sailing vessels used them to travel to the Americas. The convergence region for lower-level northeast and southeast trade winds is called the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ). The ITCZ corresponds to the equatorial trough and is the mechanism that helps generate the deep cumulonimbus clouds through convection. Cumulonimbus clouds are the main conduit transporting tropical heating into the upper troposphere.

The circulation pattern described above—ascent in the equatorial trough, poleward movement in the upper troposphere, descent in the subtropical ridges, and equatorward movement in the trade winds—is in effect a direct heat engine, which meteorologists call the Hadley cell. This persistent circulation mechanism transports heat from the latitudes of greatest solar insolation to the latitudes of the subtropical ridges. The geographic location of the Hadley circulation moves north and south with the seasons; however, the equatorial trough lags behind for about two months owing to the thermal inertia of Earth’s surface. (For a given location on Earth’s surface, the highest daily temperatures are achieved just after the period of greatest insolation, since time is required to heat the ocean surface waters and the soil.)

Extratropical cyclones

Poleward of the subtropical ridges, winds in the lower troposphere tend to be southwesterly in the Northern Hemisphere and northwesterly in the Southern Hemisphere, again owing to the Coriolis effect. Since warm air is being moved poleward at low altitudes, the wind flow is no longer associated with the direct heat engine of the Hadley cell. Instead, the continued transport of heat from the equatorial trough toward the poles is facilitated by large low-pressure eddies called extratropical cyclones. These phenomena develop along the polar front, which separates colder polar air from warmer tropical air, when sufficiently large temperature differences occur across the frontal boundary in the lower troposphere. The intensity of this temperature gradient is referred to as the baroclinicity of the front.

Extratropical cyclones have three stages of expansion: the developing stage, in which an undulating wave develops along the front; the mature stage, in which sinking cold air sweeps equatorward west of the surface low-pressure centre and ascending warm air moves poleward east of the cyclone; and the occluded stage, in which the warm air is entrained within and moved above the polar air and becomes separated from the source region of the tropical air. Cyclones that progress no farther than the developing stage are referred to as wave cyclones, while extratropical lows that reach the mature and occluded stages are called baroclinically unstable waves. Extratropical storm development is referred to as cyclogenesis. Rapid extratropical cyclone development, called explosive cyclogenesis, is often associated with major winter storms and occurs when surface pressure falls by more than about 24 millibars per day. Theoretical analysis has shown that the occurrence of baroclinically unstable waves is directly proportional to the magnitude of the temperature gradient, with maximum growth for wavelengths of 3,000 to 5,000 km (1,865 to 3,100 miles). Wavelengths that are shorter are damped by horizontal mixing. The 3,000 to 5,000 km wavelength is the typical separation between high- and low- pressure synoptic weather systems in the middle and higher latitudes.

Polar fronts and the jet stream

In the troposphere, the demarcation between polar air and warmer tropical atmosphere is usually defined by the polar front. On the poleward side of the front, the air is cold and more dense; equatorward of the front, the air is warmer and more buoyant. During the winter season, the polar front is generally located at lower latitudes and is more pronounced than in the summer.

Cold fronts occur at the leading edge of equatorward-moving polar air. In contrast, warm fronts are well defined at the equatorward surface position of polar air as it retreats on the eastern sides of extratropical cyclones. Equatorward-moving air behind a cold front occurs in pools of dense high pressure known as polar highs and arctic highs. The term arctic high is used to define air that originates even deeper within the high latitudes than polar highs.


Clouds and often precipitation occur on the poleward sides of both warm and stationary fronts and whenever tropical air reaching the latitude of the polar front is forced upward over the colder air near the surface. Such fronts are defined as active fronts. Rain and snowfall from active fronts form a major part of the precipitation received in the middle and high latitudes. Precipitation in these areas occurs primarily during the winter months.

The position of the polar front slopes upward toward colder air. This occurs because cold air tends to undercut the warmer air of tropical origin. Since cold air is more dense, atmospheric pressure decreases more rapidly with height on the poleward side of the polar front than on the warmer tropical side. This creates a large horizontal temperature contrast, which is essentially a large pressure gradient, between the polar and tropical air. In the middle and upper parts of the troposphere, this pressure gradient is responsible for the strong westerly winds occurring there. Winds created aloft circulate around a large region of upper-level low pressure near each of the poles. The centre of each low pressure region is a persistent cyclone known as the circumpolar vortex.

The region of strongest winds, which occurs at the juncture of the tropical and polar air masses, is called the jet stream. Since the temperature contrast between the tropics and the high latitudes is greatest in the winter, the jet stream is stronger during that season. In addition, since the mid-latitudes also become colder during the winter, while tropical temperatures remain relatively unchanged, the westerly jet stream approaches latitudes of 30° during the colder season. During the warmer season in both hemispheres, the jet stream moves poleward and is located between latitudes of 50° and 60°.

The jet stream reaches its greatest velocity at the tropopause. Above that level, a reversal of the horizontal temperature gradient occurs, which produces a reduction in the wind speeds of the jet stream at high latitudes. This causes a weakening of the westerlies with increasing height. At intervals ranging from 20 to 40 months, with a mean value of 26 months, westerly winds in the stratosphere reverse direction over low latitudes, so that an easterly flow develops. This feature is called the quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO). In addition, a phenomenon called sudden stratospheric warming, apparently the result of strong downward air motion, also occurs in the late winter and spring at high latitudes. Sudden stratospheric warming can significantly alter temperature-dependent chemical reactions of ozone and other reactive gases in the stratosphere and affect the development of such features as “ozone holes.”

A major focus of weather forecasting in the middle and high latitudes is to forecast the movement and development of extratropical cyclones, polar and arctic highs, and the location and intensity of subtropical ridges. Spring and fall frosts, for example, are associated with the equatorward movement of polar highs behind a cold front, while droughts and heat waves in the summer are associated with unusually strong subtropical ridges.

Effect of continents on air movement

Preferred geographic locations exist for subtropical ridges and for the development, movement, and decay of extratropical cyclones. During the winter months in middle and high latitudes, the lower parts of the troposphere over continents often serve as reservoirs of cold air as heat is radiated into space throughout the long nights. In contrast, the oceans lose heat less rapidly, because of the large heat capacity of water, their ability to overturn as the surfaces cool and become negatively buoyant, and the movement of ocean currents such as the Gulf Stream and the Kuroshio current. Warm currents transport heat from lower latitudes poleward and tend to occur on the western sides of oceans. The lower troposphere over these warmer oceanic areas tends to be a region of relative low pressure. As a result of this juxtaposition of cold air and warm air, the eastern sides of continents and the western fringes of oceans in middle and high latitudes are the preferred locations for extratropical storm development. Over Asia in particular, the cold high-pressure system is sufficiently permanent that a persistent offshore flow called the winter monsoon occurs.

An inverse type of flow develops in the summer as the continents heat more rapidly than their adjacent oceanic areas. Continental areas tend to become regions of relative low pressure, while high pressure in the lower troposphere becomes more prevalent offshore. As the winds travel from areas of higher pressure to areas of lower pressure, a persistent onshore flow develops over large landmasses in the lower troposphere. The result of this heating is referred to as the summer monsoon. The leading edge of this monsoon is associated with a feature called the monsoon trough, a region of low atmospheric pressure at sea level. Tropical moisture carried onshore by the summer monsoon often results in copious rainfall. The village of Cherrapunji in northeastern India, for instance, recorded over 9 metres (about 30 feet) of rain in one month (July 1861) owing to the Indian summer monsoon.

As a result of the continental effect, the subtropical ridge is segmented into surface high-pressure cells. In the summer, large landmasses in the subtropics tend to be centres of relative low pressure as a result of strong solar heating. As a consequence, persistent high-pressure cells, such as the Bermuda and Azores highs, occur over the oceans. The oval shape of these high-pressure cells creates a thermal structure on their eastern sides that differs from the thermal structure on their western sides in the lower troposphere. On the eastern side, subsidence from the Hadley circulation is enhanced by the tendency of air to preserve its angular momentum on the rotating Earth. Owing to the enhanced descent of air over the eastern parts of the oceans, landmasses adjacent to these areas (typically the western sides of continents) tend to be deserts, such as those found in northwestern and southwestern Africa and along western coastal Mexico.

Effect of oceans on air movement

The arid conditions found along the western coasts of continents in subtropical latitudes are further enhanced by the influence of the equatorward surface air flow on the ocean currents. This flow exerts a shearing stress on the ocean surface, which results in the deflection of the upper layer of water above the thermocline to the right in the Northern Hemisphere and to the left in the Southern Hemisphere. (This deflection is also the result of the Coriolis effect; water from both hemispheres moves westward when displaced toward the Equator.) As warmer surface waters are carried away by this offshore ocean airflow, cold water from below the thermocline rises to the surface in a process called upwelling. Upwelling creates areas of cold coastal surface waters that stabilize the lower troposphere and reduce the chances for convection. Lower convection in turn reduces the likelihood for precipitation, although fogs and low stratus clouds are common. Upwelling regions are also associated with enriched sea life, as oxygen and organic nutrients are transported upward from the depths toward the surface of the ocean.

During periods when the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) is located near the Equator, trade winds from the northeast and southeast converge there. The westward-moving winds cause the displacement of surface ocean waters away from the Equator such that the deeper, colder waters move to the surface. In the central and eastern Pacific Ocean near the Equator, when this upwelling is stronger than average, the event is called La Niña. When the trade winds weaken in this region, however, warmer-than-average surface conditions occur, and upwelling is weaker than usual. This event is called El Niño. Changes in ocean surface temperatures caused by El Niño significantly affect where cumulonimbus clouds form in the ITCZ and, therefore, the geographic structure of the Hadley cell. During periods when El Niño is active, weather patterns across the entire Earth are substantially altered.

Mountain barriers

North-south-oriented mountain barriers, such as the Rockies and the Andes, and large massifs, such as the Plateau of Tibet, also influence atmospheric flow. When the general westerly flow in the mid-latitudes reaches these barriers, air tends to be blocked. It is transported poleward west of the terrain and toward the Equator east of the obstacle. Air forced up the slopes of mountain barriers is often sufficiently moist to produce considerable precipitation on windward sides of mountains, whereas subsiding air on the lee slopes produces more-arid conditions. Essentially, the elevated terrain affects the atmosphere as if it were an anticyclone, a centre of high pressure. In addition, mountains prevent cold air from the continental interior from moving westward of the terrain. As a result, relatively mild weather occurs along the western coasts of continents with north-south mountain ranges when compared with continental interiors. For example, the West Coast of North America experiences milder winter weather than the Great Plains and Midwest, both of which occur at similar latitudes. In contrast, east-west mountain barriers, such as the Alps in Europe, offer little impediment to the general westerly flow of air. In these situations, milder maritime conditions extend much farther inland.

Cloud processes


The formation of cloud droplets and cloud ice crystals is associated with suspended aerosols, which are produced by natural processes as well as human activities and are ubiquitous in Earth’s atmosphere. In the absence of such aerosols, the spontaneous conversion of water vapour into liquid water or ice crystals requires conditions with relative humidities much greater than 100 percent, with respect to a flat surface of H2O. The development of clouds in such a fashion, which occurs only in a controlled laboratory environment, is referred to as homogeneous nucleation. Air containing water vapour with a relative humidity greater than 100 percent, with respect to a flat surface, is referred to as being supersaturated. In the atmosphere, aerosols serve as initiation sites for the condensation or deposition of water vapour. Since their surfaces are of discrete sizes, aerosols reduce the amount of supersaturation required for water vapour to change its phase and are referred to as cloud condensation nuclei.

The larger the aerosol and the greater its solubility, the lower the supersaturation percentage required for the aerosol to serve as a condensation surface. Condensation nuclei in the atmosphere become effective at supersaturations of around 0.1 to 1 percent (that is, levels of water vapour around 0.1 to 1 percent above the point of saturation). The concentration of cloud condensation nuclei in the lower troposphere at a supersaturation of 1 percent ranges from around 100 per cubic centimetre (approximately 1,600 per cubic inch) in size in oceanic air to 500 per cubic centimetre (8,000 per cubic inch) in the atmosphere over a continent. Higher concentrations occur in polluted air.

Aerosols that are effective for the conversion of water vapour to ice crystals are referred to as ice nuclei. In contrast to cloud condensation nuclei, the most effective ice nuclei are hydrophobic (having a low affinity for water) with molecular spacings and a crystallographic structure close to that of ice.

While cloud condensation nuclei are always readily available in the atmosphere, ice nuclei are often scarce. As a result, liquid water cooled below 0 °C (32 °F) can often remain liquid at subfreezing temperatures because of the absence of effective ice nuclei. Liquid water at temperatures less than 0 °C is referred to as supercooled water. Except for true ice crystals, which are effective at 0 °C, all other ice nuclei become effective at temperatures below freezing. In the absence of any ice nuclei, the freezing of supercooled water droplets of a few micrometres in radius, in a process called homogeneous ice nucleation, requires temperatures at or lower than −39 °C (−38 °F). While a raindrop will freeze near 0 °C, small cloud droplets have too few molecules to create an ice crystal by random chance until the molecular motion is slowed as the temperature approaches −39 °C. When ice nuclei are present, heterogeneous ice nucleation can occur at warmer temperatures.

Ice nuclei are of three types: deposition nuclei, contact nuclei, and freezing nuclei. Deposition nuclei are analogous to condensation nuclei in that water vapour directly deposits as ice crystals on the aerosol. Contact and freezing nuclei, in contrast, are associated with the conversion of supercooled water to ice. A contact nucleus converts liquid water to ice by touching a supercooled water droplet. Freezing nuclei are absorbed into the liquid water and convert the supercooled water to ice from the inside out.

Examples of cloud condensation nuclei include sodium chloride (NaCl) and ammonium sulfate ([NH4]2 SO2), whereas the clay mineral kaolinite is an example of an ice nuclei. In addition, naturally occurring bacteria found in decayed leaf litter can serve as ice nuclei at temperatures of less than about −4 °C (24.8 °F). In a process called cloud seeding, silver iodide, with effective ice-nucleating temperatures of less than −4 °C, has been used for years in attempts to convert supercooled water to ice crystals in regions with a scarcity of natural ice nuclei.


Liquid droplets

The evolution of clouds that follows the formation of liquid cloud droplets or ice crystals depends on which phase of water occurs. A cloud in which only liquid water occurs (even at temperatures less than 0 °C) is referred to as a warm cloud, and the precipitation that results is said to be due to warm-cloud processes. In such a cloud, the growth of a liquid water droplet to a raindrop begins with condensation, as additional water vapour condenses in a supersaturated atmosphere. This process continues until the droplet has attained a radius of about 10 micrometres (0.0004 inch). Above this size, since the mass of the droplet increases according to the cube of its radius, further increases by condensational growth are very slow. Subsequent growth, therefore, occurs only when the cloud droplets develop at slightly different rates. Differences in growth rates have been attributed to differences in spatial variations of the initial aerosol sizes, in solubilities, and in magnitudes of supersaturation. Cloud droplets of different sizes will fall at different velocities and will collide with droplets of different radii. If the collision is hard enough to overcome the surface tension between the two colliding droplets, coalescence will occur and result in a new and larger single droplet.

This process of cloud-droplet growth is referred to as collision-coalescence. Warm-cloud rain results when the droplets attain a sufficient size to fall to the ground. Such a raindrop (perhaps about 1 mm [0.04 inch] in radius) contains perhaps one million 10-micrometre cloud droplets. The typical radii of raindrops resulting from this type of precipitation process range up to several millimetres and have fall velocities of around 3 to 4 metres (10 to 13 feet) per second. This type of precipitation is very common from shallow cumulus clouds over tropical oceans. In these locations, the concentration of cloud condensation nuclei is so small that there is only limited competition for the available water vapour.

Precipitation of ice

A cloud that contains ice crystals is referred to as a cold cloud, and the resulting precipitation is said to be the product of cold-cloud processes. Traditionally, this process has also been referred to as the Bergeron-Findeisen mechanism, for Swedish meteorologists Tor Bergeron and Walter Findeisen, who introduced it in the 1930s. In this type of cloud, ice crystals can grow directly from the deposition of water vapour. This water vapour may be supersaturated with respect to ice, or it may be the result of evaporation of supercooled water and subsequent deposition onto an ice crystal. Since the saturation vapour pressure of liquid water is always greater than or equal to the saturation vapour pressure of ice, ice crystals will grow at the expense of the liquid water. For example, saturated air with respect to liquid water becomes supersaturated with respect to ice by 10 percent at −10 °C (14 °F) and by 21 percent at −20 °C (-4 °F). This results in a rapid conversion of liquid water to ice. This substantial and rapid change of phase permits large ice crystals in a cloud surrounded by a large number of supercooled cloud droplets to grow quickly (often in less than 15 minutes) from tiny ice crystals to snowflakes. These snowflakes are large enough to fall by depositional growth alone. Fall velocities of snow range up to about 2 metres per second (6.5 feet per second). Ice crystals that grow by deposition have much lower densities than solid ice because of the air pockets occurring within the volume of the crystal. This lower density differentiates snow from ice. Clouds that are completely converted to ice crystals are referred to as glaciated clouds.

The specific form the ice crystals take depends on the temperature and the degree of supersaturation with respect to ice. At −14 °C (7 °F) and a relatively large supersaturation with respect to liquid water, for example, ice crystals with dendritic (treelike branching) patterns form. This type of ice crystal, the one usually used to represent snowflakes in photographs and drawings, experiences growth at the end of radial arms on one or more planes of the crystal. At −40 °C (−40 °F) and a supersaturation with respect to liquid water of close to 0 percent, hollow ice columns form.

Ice crystals can also grow large enough to precipitate either by aggregation or by riming. Aggregation occurs when the arms of the ice crystals interlock and form a clump. This collection of intermingled ice crystals can occasionally reach several centimetres in diameter. Ice crystals can also grow when supercooled water freezes directly onto the crystal to form rime. With greater accumulation of dense ice on the crystal, its fall velocity increases. When the riming is substantial enough, the crystal form of the snowflake is lost and replaced by a more or less spherical particle called graupel. Smaller-sized graupels are generally referred to as snow grains. In cumulonimbus clouds during conditions where graupels are repeatedly wetted and then injected back toward high altitudes by strong updrafts, very large graupels called hail result. Hail has been observed on the ground at sizes larger than grapefruits.

Frozen precipitation, falling to levels of the atmosphere that are much warmer than 0 °C, often melts and reaches the ground as rain. Such cold-cloud rain at the ground is usually distinguished from warm-cloud rain by its larger size. Melted hailstones, in particular, make a large-radius impact when they strike the ground. Cold-cloud rain occasionally will refreeze if a layer of subfreezing air exists near Earth’s surface. When this freezing occurs in the free atmosphere, the frozen raindrops are referred to as sleet or ice pellets. When this freezing occurs only upon the impact of the raindrop with the ground, the precipitation is known as freezing rain. During ice storms, freezing rain can produce accumulations heavy enough to snap large trees and electrical lines.

Lightning and optical phenomena

The repeated collision of ice crystals and graupel in clouds is associated with the buildup of electrical charge. This electrification is particularly large in cumulonimbus clouds as a result of vigorous vertical mixing and collisions. On average, positive charges accumulate in the upper regions, while negative charges are concentrated lower down. In response to the negative charge near the cloud base, and as negatively charged rain falls toward the ground, a pocket of positive charge develops on the ground. When the difference in electric potential between positive and negative charges becomes large enough, a sudden electrical discharge (lightning) will occur. Lightning can occur between different regions of the cloud, as in intracloud lightning, and between the cloud and the positively charged ground, as in cloud-to-ground lightning. The passage of the lightning through the air heats it to above 30,000 K (29,725 °C, or 53,540 °F), causing a large increase in pressure. This produces a powerful shock wave that is heard as thunder.


Cloud research

The presence of cloud condensation and ice nuclei in air parcels is tested by using cloud chambers in which controlled temperatures and relative humidities are specified. In the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, aircraft fly through clouds collecting droplets and ice on collection plates or photographing their presence in the airstream. In the past, identification of the different sizes of droplets and of the various types of ice crystals was performed by a researcher in a tedious and subjective procedure. Today this analysis can be automated by computerized image assessment. On the ground, rainfall impaction molds and snow crystal impressions are made. Hailstones are also collected, since an analysis of their structure often helps define the ambient environment in which they formed. Chemical analyses of the cloud droplets, ice crystals, and precipitation are also frequently performed in order to identify natural and man-made pollutants within the different forms of water.

Measurement systems

Methods to monitor the atmosphere are of two types—in situ measurements and remote sensing observations. In situ measurements require that the instrumentation be located directly at the point of interest and in contact with the subject of interest. In contrast, remote sensors are located some distance away from the subject of interest. Remote sensors include passive systems (instruments that receive information naturally emitted from a region in the atmosphere) and active systems (instruments that emit either acoustic or electromagnetic energy and record the characteristics of this energy after it reflects off an object or surface and returns back to the sensor).

Within the planetary boundary layer, in situ instrumentation includes towers, tethered balloons, and surface data collection platforms. A wide range of meteorological measurements are made from this equipment, including temperature, dew-point temperature, pressure, wind velocity, long-wave and shortwave radiative fluxes, and air chemistry. Active remote-sensing observations are made, using Doppler and non-Doppler radars, lidars (a type of laser that measures backscattered light), and acoustic sounders. Radars measure the backscattering of electromagnetic microwave radiation with wavelengths on the order of 3 to 10 cm (1 to 4 inches). The non-Doppler radars provide estimates of precipitation intensity, while Doppler radars can also provide estimates of wind speed and direction by detecting a shift in the frequency of an echo produced by a moving target. Shorter-wavelength Doppler radars are often able to measure winds even in clear air. Carbon dioxide lidars provide estimates of wind structure and turbulence within a few tens of kilometres of the instrument. Acoustic sounders are used primarily to monitor boundary layer depth and structure, using echo-return characteristics. Passive instrumentation includes the pyranometer, which measures direct and diffuse solar radiation, and the pyrheliometer, which samples only direct radiation from the Sun.

Above the boundary layer, but within the troposphere, the primary standard observation platform is the radiosonde. Tethered to helium balloons, radiosondes are released twice daily (simultaneously at 0000 hours and 1200 hours Greenwich Mean Time) around the world. As a result of their use, a long-period data archive of the status of the atmosphere has been achieved. Meteorological observations from radiosondes are also applied to benchmark the numerical weather prediction models used to forecast day-to-day weather. Radiosondes measure temperature, dew-point temperature, and pressure. The position of the radiosonde can be monitored by radar tracking so that wind speed and direction as a function of height are routinely available—for this reason radiosondes are also referred to as rawinsondes. Since the 1990s, the global positioning system (GPS) has been used to track the balloons and calculate wind speed and direction. The radiosondes are designed to have a rise rate of about 200 metres (650 feet) per minute.

Remote-sensing systems called profilers have been developed to provide almost continuous measurements of wind and, somewhat less accurately, of moisture and temperature throughout the lowest 10 km (6 miles) of the atmosphere. Winds are estimated by using an upward-looking Doppler radar, while temperature and moisture profiles are evaluated by using a vertically pointing radiometer that measures electromagnetic emissions of selected wavelengths at various heights in the troposphere. Used in conjunction with Earth-orbiting satellite-based passive temperature and moisture radiometric soundings, as well as active lidar wind measurements, profilers complement the data collected from radiosondes.

Aircraft also provide detailed information concerning the structure of the atmosphere. Airplanes used in field experiments, such as the Lockheed P-3 aircraft employed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the United States, are heavily instrumented and often carry Doppler radar, turbulence sensors, and in situ measurement devices for cloud water, cloud ice content, and structure. The NOAA P-3 has been used to fly through hurricanes and other types of deep precipitating cloud systems. Commercial aircraft are used routinely to collect atmospheric data temperature and wind data. This information is communicated to weather forecasters and used in the preparation of weather map analyses.

Lightning occurrences are monitored by using ground-based detectors. Such systems measure time, location, flash polarity, and stroke count of lightning strikes. When the observations from systems at different locations are combined, distribution maps of lightning strikes, and hence thunderstorm occurrences, can be made.

Above the routine maximum height of the radiosonde data (above levels where atmospheric pressure drops below 100 millibars, at about 17 km [10.5 miles]), rocketsondes, rocket-borne grenades, and falling sphere experiments have been used to monitor the thermal structure of the upper atmosphere. Since these measurements occur much less frequently than radiosonde observations, however, less is known about the meteorology above the tropopause. Satellite radiometric soundings have also been used to provide temperature readings in layers in the atmosphere from near the surface up to about 25 km (16 miles) or so, although these measurements offer less vertical and spatial resolution than in situ measurements. Similarly, ground-based radar and lidars have been used to measure atmospheric characteristics in the upper atmosphere.

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