Cloud types

The list of cloud types is a summarisation of the modern systems of cloud classification used in the troposphere, stratosphere, and mesosphere. The ten basic genus-types in the troposphere have Latin names derived from five physical forms. These are, in approximate ascending order of instability or convective activity: stratiform sheets; cirriform wisps and patches; stratocumuliform patches, rolls, and ripples; cumuliform heaps and tufts, and cumulonimbiform towers that often have complex structures. The forms are cross-classified by altitude range or level into ten basic genus types. Most genera are divided into species, some of which are common to more than one genus. Most genera and species can be subdivided into varieties, also with Latin names, some of which are common to more than one genus or species. The essentials of the modern nomenclature system for tropospheric clouds were proposed by Luke Howard, a British manufacturing chemist and an amateur meteorologist with broad interests in science, in an 1802 presentation to the Askesian Society. Since 1890, clouds have been classified and illustrated in cloud atlases. Mesospheric and stratospheric clouds have their own classifications with common names for the major types and alpha-numeric nomenclature for the subtypes.

In section two of this page (Classification of major types), height ranges are sorted in approximate descending order of altitude expressed in general terms. On the cross-classification table, forms and genus types (including some genus sub-types) are shown from left to right in approximate ascending order of instability.

In sections three to five, terrestrial clouds are listed in descending order of the altitude range of each atmospheric layer in which clouds can form:

In section six, the cloud types in the general lists and the mother clouds in the applicable classification table are sorted in alphabetical order except where noted. The species table shows these types sorted from left to right in approximate ascending order of the convective instability of each species. The table for supplementary features has them arranged in approximate descending order of frequency of occurrence.

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