New Cloud Type and Honeycomb Clouds

As a big fan of cloud aesthetics, I found these articles of interest. A newly classified cloud has been determined and is the first addition to the World Meteorlogical Organization's atlas since 1951.
Called Asperatus clouds, they sometimes look like rolling hills on the horizon. They compliment the landscape in a beautiful juxtaposition.

Edit To Add: I wonder if these clouds just now started forming this way? Why else would they have never been classified? Then I wonder if they are new, why now and what is different that causes them?









news.nationalgeographic.com...#/asperatus-cloud-scotland_9628_600x450.jpg

The second group of clouds are new to me and called honeycomb clouds. These are found over the oceans.

Such open-cell marine clouds "communicate" with each other so that they constantly oscillate, or rearrange themselves, in a synchronized pattern, according to a new study from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Inside the thick clouds of the cell walls, water droplets grow, then fall as rain, and the walls dissipate. The raindrops evaporate as they fall, cooling the air, which generates downward air currents.

When the downdrafts hit the ocean surface, they flow outward and collide with each other and "force the air to move upward again" and "form new open cell walls at a different location," explained study co-author Hailong Wang, a cloud physicist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Washington.

The new clouds eventually rain in unison, too, part of a reorganization cycle that can persist for days, according to the study.

news.nationalgeographic.com...#/clouds-communicate-patterns-pa cific-1_24813_600x450.jpg











Peace,
spec

[edit on 21-8-2010 by speculativeoptimist]

Now those clouds are awesome

Remember seeing these as a kid in Aus. and also now here in germany. Really cool riding your bike towards them thinikng they are mountains

Nice pics! The clouds appear chaotic in water world, lol. I wonder what the reason is for these new formations. Warmer air holds more water vapor and of couse, perpetuates the global warming cycle. Is it really man-made?

Asperatus clouds are not new but they are relatively rare. They have not been previously classified because they were not well documented. With more people carrying cameras, that has changed. I don't think asperatus has yet actually received official recognition as a new type as it is unclear what meteorological conditions lead to their production. They may be a variation of existing cloud types.

Margaret LeMone, a cloud expert with the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, said that she has taken photos of asperatus clouds intermittently over the past 30 years.

It's likely that the cloud will turn out to be a new variety, LeMone said.

"Having a group of people enthusiastic about clouds can only help the field of meteorology," she added.

Asked how has such a striking cloud type could go unrecognized, Pretor-Pinney cites its rarity--and the proliferation and portability of digital cameras. "Technology has allowed us to have this new perspective on the sky."

news.nationalgeographic.com...

reply to post by Fett Pinkus

Glad you enjoyed them FP! They do make any outdoor endeavor pleasurable!

spec

reply to post by Onboard2

Thanks for the reply Onboard2! I too wonder if anything we do contributes to their formation. I'll dig in a little more.

spec

reply to post by Phage

Hey Phage, always glad to have your perspective! Again technology is able to bring us something new, in the sense of recording the phenomena anyway. Thanks for the clarification..

spec

Found some more interesting info:

"The pattern of the clouds affects how much of the sun's energy gets reflected back into space," Nature quoted atmospheric scientist Hailong Wang of the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, a coauthor on the study as saying.
"We've teased out the fundamental reasons why the open-cell clouds oscillate.
Being able to simulate these clouds in computer models, we gain more insights into the physics behind the phenomenon. This will help us to better interpret measurements in the real atmosphere and represent these clouds in climate models," said Wang.
In addition, this is the first time researchers have shown that open-cell clouds follow the principles of self-organizing systems-they spontaneously form dynamic, coherent structures that tend to repair themselves and resist change.
Such clouds join other self-organizing networks such as flocks of birds, shifting

sify.com...

spec

reply to post by speculativeoptimist


Really cool, SO!! My sister brought some pics of asperatus clouds she took from her front yard. We wondered what the heck they were. I should be seeing her again in the next few days, and I'll try to post them on here!

Ok, yall want my honest first thought?

What a nice hiding place for the mothership.

Hey this IS a conspiracy board.

Beautiful clouds, I hope I get to see one soon.

I see those ripple looking waves all the time here, but never have seen this kind of cloud.

saw some of those clouds at practice last week, looked like rolling hills upside down. really awesome. but strange...

i sens3 a CL0UD C0nSp1racy!!!!

Very interesting thread.
However I think there are other motives behind the sudden discovery of new cloud formations. I believe de-sensitizing the public.
How can it be possible for clouds to form straight edges? Something else must have influenced this to get the effect. Straight edges???
The thread itself beggars belief.
Signs shown in the sky?
Suns effects rippling clouds?
Space quakes?
What is the logical answer that you feel? Not what you have been told to believe is true.

reply to post by jennybee35

Hey Jennybee! Nice avatar! Look forward to seeing your pics and thanks for the reply friend.
spec
reply to post by hotbakedtater

Hello hotbakedtater! Thanks for the reply and yes these clouds would make excellent cover for the "mothership."
spec
reply to post by Mooradian

Hello Mooradian, cloud conspiracy... Awesome!
Thanks for the reply.
spec
reply to post by jazz10

Hey jazz10, thanks for the reply! Ya know I thought it was odd too for a cloud to have straight edges and separate in that honeycomb shape. It does look more unnatural than natural. I am reminded of cymatics here....


spec

reply to post by jazz10


As Phage mentioned, these clouds have been seen for a few decades now. They are not a new phenomena, they have just been recently classified as a sub genre of cloud. They have not "just" started appearing.

They are a completely natural phenomena btw

reply to post by OzWeatherman


Phage said? Sorry but still to this day I still haven't seen this ever before with my own eyes and witnessed it up until now second hand. I would be interested to see just how many people have. Straight edges? Behave.

Originally posted by jazz10
reply to post by OzWeatherman

 

Phage said? Sorry but still to this day I still haven't seen this ever before with my own eyes and witnessed it up until now second hand. I would be interested to see just how many people have. Straight edges? Behave.

Im not taking Phage's word as truth here, Im simply backing him up. I actually look at clouds as a proffesion and we have known about these clouds for decades. They are an extremely rare phenomenen, and most people, including the ones that do the same work as me, will never get the oppurtunity to see.

So, with that said, what knowledge of cloud types do you have?

[edit on 22/8/2010 by OzWeatherman]

Originally posted by jazz10
Very interesting thread.
However I think there are other motives behind the sudden discovery of new cloud formations. I believe de-sensitizing the public.
How can it be possible for clouds to form straight edges? Something else must have influenced this to get the effect. Straight edges???
The thread itself beggars belief.
Signs shown in the sky?
Suns effects rippling clouds?
Space quakes?
What is the logical answer that you feel? Not what you have been told to believe is true.

I hear you. There's a little more than meets the eye. Yes, all the usual suspects pop in to tell us just what to think. Good point.

reply to post by jazz10

I didn't "say". I posted a statement from a meteorologist who has observed these clouds not often, but over a period of 30 years.

I did say that this is a rare cloud formation. I have not seen it either. Many people have not seen it. Maybe you don't live in a location where it is likely to occur.

What do you mean by "straight edge". I don't see any straight edges. Do you mean well defined edges? That is not unusual. Have you ever seen lenticular clouds? I have.
cloudappreciationsociety.org...
cloudappreciationsociety.org...


[edit on 8/22/2010 by Phage]

reply to post by OzWeatherman


What do I know about clouds? The same as a three year old perhaps they're fluffy and white when they are grey its chance to rain. What else would I need to know?
How can it be possible? Also the wind factor?

reply to post by Phage

Hey Phage! I think the 4th picture in the second set(honeycomb) of clouds is the one that looks like it has some straight(er) edges, as if they were separated unnaturally. Just speculation on my part....

Okay, after scanning thru 100's of "honeycomb" cloud pics, the one I just mentioned is the only one that appears to have "straighter" edges, or hexagram shape. So no conspiracy here, imo, that single pic is just an oddball in the mix.
Clouds, nevertheless are a great source of adoration and inspiration and I always enjoy the endless shapes and forms.

spec




[edit on 22-8-2010 by speculativeoptimist]

Originally posted by jazz10
reply to post by OzWeatherman

 

What do I know about clouds? The same as a three year old perhaps they're fluffy and white when they are grey its chance to rain. What else would I need to know?
How can it be possible? Also the wind factor?

Well, you could start by learning the 10 basic cloud types and how they are formed, and what they look like. Then perhaps you could move onto the hundreds of sub classifications we have, plus how they are formed, what they look like and what indication they give of weather or impending weather.

There's a hell of a lot of factors that cause these many different cloud types and if you gave it a go and researched them, you might actually find that many of the weather phenomenen people claim are "unnatural" are in fact, naturally occuring things.

All its takes is a bit of research

reply to post by jazz10


WHAT "straight edges"??

How can it be possible for clouds to form straight edges? .... Straight edges???

Really?

Are you speaking of the very, very distant appearance on the far horizon, in the photos??

Ummm...you see that all the time, right?