Clouds are always interesting to look at, most times we can see different shapes in them that captures our imaginations, but what exactly are clouds?, how are they made?. On Earth the condensing substance that form clouds is typically water vapor, which forms small droplets or ice crystals. When surrounded by billions of other droplets or crystals they become visible as clouds. Dense deep clouds exhibit a high reflectance throughout the visible range of wavelengths; they therefore 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 gases, hence the gray or even sometimes dark appearance at the cloud base. Thin clouds may appear to have acquired the color of their environment or background and clouds illuminated by non-white light, such as during sunrise or sunset, may appear colored accordingly. Clouds look darker… read more
