Cloud Appreciation

CLOUDS

Morning Sky

Blue canvas of sky
Slashed by pink streaks,
Purple swathes.
Leading in the air-brushed
White feathers of cloud.
Changing second by second
As I watch.
Magical transformation
Painted by sunlight, shaded
By moisture. Displayed above
In an ever-moving panorama.
Wonderful ceiling of the world.
A transforming delight.
Natures abstract strokes
Laid gently upon the canvas
Of blue.

Miki Byrne

 

Yesterday I came across the "Cloud appreciation society".  I've always had a bit of a thing for clouds and stars so it caught my attention.  Basically its a website where people submit surreal cloud images.

Check them out...

 

A cloud is a visible mass of droplets, in other words, little drops of water or frozen crystals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of the Earth or another planetary body. A cloud is also a visible mass attracted by gravity, such as masses of material in space called interstellar clouds and nebulae. Clouds are studied in the nephology or cloud physics branch of meteorology.

On Earth the condensing substance is typically water vapor, which forms small droplets or ice crystals, typically 0.01 mm (0.00039 in) in diameter. When surrounded by billions of other droplets or crystals they become visible as clouds. Dense deep clouds exhibit a high reflectance (70% to 95%) throughout the visible range of wavelengths. They thus 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 in the near-infraredwavelengths. because water absorbs solar radiation.

(wikipedia)