View from the Top

A cloud is a visible mass of condensed droplets or frozen crystals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of the Earth or another planetary body. The branch of meteorology in which clouds are studied is nephology.
On Earth the condensing substance is water vapor, which forms small droplets or ice crystals, typically 0.01 mm in diameter. When surrounded by billions of other droplets or crystals they become visible as clouds. Dense deep clouds exhibit a high reflectance (70% to 95%) throughout the visible range of wavelengths: they thus appear white, at least from the top. Cloud droplets tend to scatter light efficiently, so that the intensity of the solar radiation decreases with depth into the cloud, hence the grey or even sometimes dark appearance of the clouds at their base.



A picture paints a thousand words. Not an award winning picture, but that's what left me breathless on my flight to Malaysia a few weeks ago. I know what clouds are - yet when you look at them from above.. it seems entirely possible to skip along on those fluffy white balls of cotton, shooting the breeze with winged friends with shining halos above their heads.