cloud

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Introduction References & Edit History Related Topics

Images & Videos

View a time-lapse video of cloud formations rolling across the sky followed by a thunderstorm

How do clouds float?

Learn about the four main types of clouds formed at different altitudes

What is cloud seeding and can it be used to fight climate change?

cloud: cumulonimbus

lightning: cloud-to-ground

Middle clouds(Top to bottom) Altocumulus undulatus, a layer of shaded, regularly arranged rolls; altocumulus perlucidus, a white and gray layer in which there are spaces between the elements; altostratus translucidus, showing the Sun as if seen through ground glass; altocumulus radiatus, a layer with laminae arranged in parallel bands.

false-colour mosaic of the Great Red Spot

For Students

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Lightning over the outskirts of Oradea, Rom., during the thunderstorm of August 17, 2005.

16 Questions About Earth’s Atmsophere and Weather Answered

Hot-air balloon against a sky (clouds, hot air ballooning, recreation)

Why Is the Sky Blue?

Discover

Lisa Taylor receives a COVID-19 vaccination from RN Jose Muniz as she takes part in a vaccine study at Research Centers of America, August 07, 2020 in Hollywood, Florida. Research Centers of America is currently conducting COVID-19 vaccine trials, impleme

How Is a Vaccine Approved for Use?

Ethel Rosenberg arrested in August 1950. Photograph dated Aug. 8, 1950. American civilians executed for espionage. Spies, communists, Julius Rosenberg

Spies Like Us: 10 Famous Names in the Espionage Game

Amendments 1-10 to the Constitution of the United States constitute what is known as the Bill of Rights on an American flag.

What Is the Emoluments Clause?

The Colosseum, Rome, Italy. Giant amphitheatre built in Rome under the Flavian emperors. (ancient architecture; architectural ruins)

New Seven Wonders of the World

Portrait of Marie Antoinette by Jean-Francois Janinet, 1777. Color etching and engraving with gold leaf printed on two sheets, 30x13.5 in.

Did Marie-Antoinette Really Say “Let Them Eat Cake”?

Human Cannibalism; Johannes Lerii's account of the description of the method the Indians use for "barbecuing" human flesh. Nude Indians barbecuing and eating parts of human bodies; Theodor de Bry.

Cannibalism: Cultures, Cures, Cuisine, and Calories

Close up of praying mantis walking on stone ground against a blurred background in Japan

6 Animals That Eat Their Mates

cloud: Related Content

Written and fact-checked by The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Photos and Videos

cloud: cumulonimbus

lightning: cloud-to-ground

Middle clouds(Top to bottom) Altocumulus undulatus, a layer of shaded, regularly arranged rolls; altocumulus perlucidus, a white and gray layer in which there are spaces between the elements; altostratus translucidus, showing the Sun as if seen through ground glass; altocumulus radiatus, a layer with laminae arranged in parallel bands.

false-colour mosaic of the Great Red Spot

computer-generated visualization of Jupiter's equatorial cloud layers

Clouds on Mars. The rippled clouds (top) are high in Mars's atmosphere and consist mainly of water crystals with lesser amounts of frozen carbon dioxide. Fog is faintly visible in the lower half of the picture. This false-colour picture is a composite of images taken by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft on June 4, 1998.

clouds on Neptune

An enhanced photograph of Venus, obtained in February 1979 in ultraviolet light by the Pioneer Venus 1 spacecraft, shows the distinctive V-shaped cloud markings of the planet.

View a time-lapse video of cloud formations rolling across the sky followed by a thunderstorm

How do clouds float?

Learn about the four main types of clouds formed at different altitudes

What is cloud seeding and can it be used to fight climate change?

Learn how the Sun warms moist air near the ground and causes it to rise and condense on dust particles

See All Videos and Images →

Topics

nonprecipitating cloud wave cloud cyclonic cloud system cumuliform cloud polar stratospheric cloud stratiform cloud layer cloud orographic cloud How Do Clouds Form?contrail frost dew precipitation drought mist haze hydrometeor weather forecasting weather modification temperature inversion

Dig Deeper: More Articles That Discuss This Topic

Key People

C.T.R. Wilson, 1927

C.T.R. Wilson

British physicist

Tor Harold Percival Bergeron

Scandinavian meteorologist

Quiz

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Model of a molecule. Atom, Biology, Molecular Structure, Science, Science and Technology. Homepage 2010 arts and entertainment, history and society

Science Quiz

Thunderstorm cumulonimbus clouds above Montana. weather storm thunderstorm atmospheric disturbance cumulonimbus clouds thunder and lightning Homepage blog 2011, science and technology

Clouds and Cloud Types

rain. Child in the rain, wearing a rain coat, under a yellow umbrella. April Showers weather climate rain storm water drops

April Showers to March’s Lions and Lambs

Iceland, Glacier lagoon (Jokulsarlon)

Winter Weather Words Quiz

Thunderstorm cumulonimbus clouds above Montana. weather storm thunderstorm atmospheric disturbance cumulonimbus clouds thunder and lightning Homepage blog 2011, science and technology

Clouds and Cloud Types

ten types of clouds and their elevation: cirrus, cirrocumulus, cirrostratus, altocumulus, altostratus, nimbostratus, stratocumulus, stratus, cumulus, cumulonimbus

Earth’s Atmosphere and Clouds

Umbrella colored like a rainbow sticking out above a sea of black umbrellas while it rains. (storm, weather)

Weather Words Vocabulary Quiz

List

Lightning over the outskirts of Oradea, Rom., during the thunderstorm of August 17, 2005.

16 Questions About Earth’s Atmsophere and Weather Answered

Demystified

Hot-air balloon against a sky (clouds, hot air ballooning, recreation)

Why Is the Sky Blue?