Clouds Their Formation, Optical Properties, and Effects - Essay Example

Low, thick clouds reflect solar radiation thus cool the surface of the Earth. High, thin clouds transmit incoming solar radiation. They also entrap some of the outgoing infrared radiation released by the Earth and emit it back downward (Hobbs 67). This warms the earth's surface.3. AnswerThe fraction of the solar energy reflected back to space is known as the albedo.Ocean, sea and lake surfaces and rain forests have low albedos; they reflect only a small percentage of the sun's energy. Deserts, ice, and clouds, however, have high albedos; they reflect a large percentage of the sun's energy.

Low or high albedo may result in either high or low temperature in an area. The greenhouse effect often produced by greenhouse gases is also brought about by clouds that absorb long-wavelength (infrared) radiation from the surface of the earth radiating some of it back down. Additionally, the re-radiation of infrared radiation from the Earth's surface may simply reflect it back to the surface. This essentially is the electromagnetic radiation of the earth's surface which affects the local temperature of an area.

The Cloud greenhouse forcing effect can cause temperatures of an area to increase. It's negative causes the opposite. Clear cloudsAll the suns heat reaches the earth part of the sun heat reaches the earth4 AnswerAerosol serve as nuclei for cloud formation, the diagram above shows the basic outlook of the processes involved in the production, growth, and eventual removal of atmospheric aerosol particles. Aerosols act as Cloud Condensation Nuclei, cloud droplets are formed through this nucleus.

Aerosols also affect the quality of clouds. Studies have shown that high amounts of aerosols in the clouds will cause more than normal droplets in the clouds.5 a. Regions in North and South America have high citrus clouds. Reflection, absorption, and transmission of cirrus clouds layers in the near-infrared wavelength and the visible have been reported by a number of researchers. According to Hobbs (Hobbs 1981), a meaningful reflection of twenty percentile was derived from cirrus-cirrostratus clouds with a solar elevation of sixty-five degrees.

It was shown that the reflection of thick cirrus clouds ranged from forty-seven to fifty-nine percentiles. Also, the absorption of solar radiation in the cloud-free troposphere was as high as 26%. High cirrus reflectivity affects the temperature of an area. In high reflectivity, temperatures of an area are relatively cooler.