Illustration of a cumulus cloud, a cloud with noticeable vertical development and clearly defined edges. Cumulus means

Low clouds: Cumulus 1

Illustration of a cumulus cloud, a cloud with noticeable vertical development and clearly defined edges. Cumulus means "heap" or "pile" in Latin. They are often described as "puffy" or "cotton-like" in appearance. Cumulus clouds typically form when warm air rises and reaches a level of comparatively cool air, where the moisture in the air condenses. This usually happens through convection, where a parcel of air is warmer than the surrounding air.

meteorology climate weather atmosphere sky

Author(s)Tracey Saxby
Author CompanyIntegration and Application Network
Date Created2005-06-27
AlbumEcosystems > Meteorology/Climate
TypeSymbol
Project(s)USA-Australia Virtual Environmental Partnership
Dimensions501 x 236
Filesize7.1 kB (svg)   24.3 kB (png)
Number of Downloads829
Filetype(s) SVG     PNG
LicenseAttribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Required AttributionTracey Saxby, Integration and Application Network (ian.umces.edu/media-library)