SCE 3110 Practical 1,2,3

Practical 1 Clouds and Weather Introduction: Clouds are water. Water as a gas is called water vapor. Clouds form when water vapor turns back into liquid water droplets. That is called condensation. It happens in one of two ways: when the air cools enough, or when enough water vapor is added to the air. Most clouds are associated with weather. These clouds can be divided into groups mainly based on the height of the cloud's base above the Earth's surface. Meteorologists name clouds by how high in the sky they form and by their appearance. Most clouds have two parts to their name. Usually the first part of the name has to do with the height and the second part refers to the appearance. If clouds form at the highest levels, they get the prefix cirro as the first part of their name. Middle clouds get the prefix alto. Low clouds dont get a prefix. There are two cloud appearance types: cumulus and stratus, which are also the basic names of the low clouds. Sometimes they appear higher in the atmosphere and get a combination name with a prefix. For example, middle cumulus clouds are called altocumulus and high stratus clouds are cirrostratus. If a cloud produces rain or snow it gets either nimbo at the beginning or nimbus at the end. The identification of the first three groups is based on the height of the cloud base above the ground: - High level clouds with a cloud base between 5 and 13 km above the ground - mid level clouds with a cloud base between 2 and 6 km above the ground - low level clouds with a cloud base from 0 to 2 km above the ground. Procedures: 1. Information about clouds gathered from textbooks or internet. 2. A suitable location was identified and the types of clouds were observed for a period of weeks. The observation done at a fixed time every day. 3. The observations were recorded including any climatic changes (including weather it rains or not) 4. The data obtained were analyzed and interpreted. 5. The report was written included photographs, tables, charts, references etc. to support the discussion. 6. The findings were presented using the power point presentation. 7. The implications of the findings were explained.

Data:

Place: IPGM Kampus Pendidikan Teknik, 56000 Cheras, Kuala Lumpur Date Time Clouds Weather/climate 24 February 2010 3.00pm Clear sky 25 February 2010 3.00pm Rain at evening around 6pm 26 February 2010 3.00pm Rain at evening around 5.30pm to 7pm 27 February 2010 3.00pm Clear sky 28 February 2010 3.00pm Clear sky 1 March 2010 3.00pm Cloudy

2 March 2010 3.00pm Cloudy Rain at the evening(around 5.30pm)

Data analysis: Clouds Characteristics Type of cloud High level clouds lack in contrast between the top and base Cirrus Dark base Low level cloud Cumulus Dark base Low level clouds Cumulus High level clouds lack in contrast between the top and base Cirrus High level clouds lack in contrast between the top and base Cirrus low level cloud Cumulus form from cumulus clouds vertically grows Cumulonimbus Clouds can occur at any level of the atmosphere wherever there is sufficient moisture to allow condensation to take place. The layer of the atmosphere where almost all cloud exists is the troposphere. As a result from my analysis, I could see that most of the time the clouds are cumulus types. During the day that I observed the clouds, there was rain at the evening time around 5.30pm to 7.00pm. Although the weather was very hot at the time I observed, at 3.00pm. The weather

seems likely to change rapidly at those times. From what I could observe, there were clouds that have dark based and bigger than others. Some were appear smaller size such as on 28 February 2008. The bigger clouds and have dark base is classified in cumulus types. It has dark base because the sunlight cannot moves through the clouds since the cloud is big and have thicker structure. Cumulonimbus clouds, which are normally associated with thunderstorms, consist of a combination from some or all of the cloud groups. Altostratus clouds create a uniform white to grayish sheet covering the sky with the Sun or Moon visible as bright spot. In frequent light snow or drizzle may accompany this cloud. Low cloud there is members in the family of low clouds stratus, stratocumulus and nimbostratus. Stratus are uniform foglike of layer of clouds that frequently cover much of sky. When the stratus clouds develop a scalloped bottom that appears as long parallel rolls or broken globular patches, they are called stratocumulus clouds. The weather can be determined by observing the clouds. For example, on 2 March 2010, the cumulonimbus cloud was appearing at the sky, at that evening, rain was falling down. Most probably, cumulus and cumulonimbus will be the sign of rain will be falling down at that day.

Implications: Clouds can be use to determine the weather on that day, so, it is very useful to us to plan our schedule and activities, especially for outdoor activities. The cumulonimbus and cumulus clouds shows a sign that rain might be fall at that day. It is very important to certain people with certain work, for example, fisherman should be aware with the weather. They should be able to predict the weather before go to the sea. Their life could be in dangerous if they go to the sea in rainy day.

Conclusion: Clouds are different from each other. They are determined by height and their appearance. Cumulonimbus is a towering cloud, it can be at lower attitude to high attitude, it brings rains and thunderstorm. High clouds which are above 6000meter contain cirrocumulus, cirrostratus and cirrus. Middle clouds at 4000m to 6000m contain altocumulus, and altostratus. Low clouds at 2000m to 4000m contain nimbostratus, stratus stratocumulus, and cumulus. References: Book Lutgen and Tarbuck, (2008). Foundations Of Earth Science , Pearson prentice hall. Internet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud http://www.australiasevereweather.com/techniques/moreadv/class.htm www.carlwozniak.com/clouds/ www.wxdude.com/page9.html