11. Clouds and Precipitation (cloud chamber experiment)

The Atmosphere, the Ocean and Environmental Change (GG 140)

Scattered visible light and microwave radar can used used to detect clouds and precipitation. Cloud formation in rising air can be simulated in the classroom by suddenly dropping the pressure in a glass chamber. The small cloud droplets formed in this way fall too slowly to ever reach the earth. There are two main mechanisms by which precipitation is generated from clouds. Collision coalescence occurs mainly over tropical oceans whereas the ice phase mechanism is more common and also more relevant to the practice of cloud seeding.

00:00 - Chapter 1. Interactions between Visible Light and the Atmosphere
07:15 - Chapter 2. Using Radar to Detect Precipitation
09:13 - Chapter 3. Cloud Formation Experiment
19:06 - Chapter 4. Collision Coalescence Mechanism of Raindrop Formation
21:36 - Chapter 5. Ice Phase Mechanism of Raindrop Formation
26:17 - Chapter 6. Mechanism of Precipitation Formation Based on Cloud Characteristics
32:38 - Chapter 7. Cloud Seeding
39:21 - Chapter 8. Precipitation Climatology
43:05 - Chapter 9. Evaporation

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://oyc.yale.edu

This course was recorded in Fall 2011.