Nature Science

THE WILD BEAUTY OF CLOUDS

Angelo Storari. A heart-shaped cloud, spotted in Ancona, Italy, using the CloudSpotter App

“WE BELIEVE that clouds are unjustly maligned
and that life would be immeasurably poorer without them.”

We think that they are Nature’s poetry,
and the most egalitarian of her displays, since
everyone can have a fantastic view of them.

“We seek to remind people that clouds are expressions of the
atmosphere’s moods…”
“Look up, marvel at the ephemeral beauty, and live life with your head in the clouds!”

Photo: Dan Spahn. Courtesy of The Cloud Appreciation Society. Sunset in Illinois after a storm

Clouds are beautiful expressions of weather. I think they are beautiful no matter what kind of weather they bring, whether it is a magical sunny day, with an azure sky dotted with white cotton candy tufts, or a dark and stormy unleashing of pent up demand for rain. And, although many would, at first blush, disagree, grumbling about their ruined picnics or perceived bad luck, there are many who share a belief that clouds are, without exception or question, some of the most beautiful things in the universe.

Over 32,000 of these people, from 83 countries, are members of the Cloud Appreciation Society, founded by Gavin Pretor-Pinney in 2005. The society aims to foster understanding and appreciation of clouds. Members include people of all ages and professions, from cloud physicists, to meteorologists, to photographers, to poets.

Photo: Laurine Ayers Briel. Clouds, in wave form. Spotted in Maui, Hawaii, using the CloudSpotter App

Anyone can appreciate clouds from anywhere, any time, without any special equipment. They are often present in one form or another. And now, because so many people have access to smartphones and internet, they can capture images of clouds and share them with each other and the world. The Cloud Appreciation Society is billowing with examples of this.

Photo: Ken Prior. Over Schiehallion, Perthshire, Scotland.

To make it even easier to capture and share cloud images, and to learn about all the different kinds of clouds and cloud science, the Cloud Appreciation Society recently developed the CloudSpotter iPhone app (released in July, 2013). The app features 40 different varieties of clouds, with hundreds of pictures and extensive information, to make identifying clouds easy. You’ll see the ones you know, like the Cumulus clouds you can spot on a sunny day, as well as rare beauties, like the Noctilucent clouds that hang out in the fringes of space.

Photo: Courtesy of NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.

NASA will use anonymous data from the app to help calibrate its cloud-observing satellites. NASA’s CERES system is set up on three different satellites, to measure the amount of sunlight reflected back into space from the Earth and how much heat it emits. However, clouds confuse the data, as cloud-covered areas reflect different amounts of light, depending on their density. And, if clouds pass over light-colored areas, such as snowy regions, it’s sometimes difficult for CERES to tell whether it’s detecting clouds or the Earth’s surface.

CloudSpotter app users take pictures of the sky, which are automatically tagged by the iPhone’s GPS system. These images and data are sent to NASA, which, in turn, coordinates the data to increase CERES’ accuracy.

The Cloudspotter app was also used recently to identify a new type of cloud, the Undulatus Asperatus, which is now being studied to determine their source of origin and their effects. You can read more about this in tomorrow’s BN Daily Fix post, “New Cloud New Science New Beauty.”

Image: Courtesy of The Cloud Appreciation Society.

Weren’t you one of those kids who looked up at the sky and saw rabbits, castles, dragons, ships, and all sorts of fantasy images in the clouds? I sure was. And I still do. Now, you can see this pastime memorialized in a new book, "Clouds That Look Like Things" by Gavin Pretor-Pinney (Sceptre, 2012). Pretor-Pinney doesn’t just present a bunch of pretty pictures of ordinary cloud fancies. This book is full of stunning surprises and humor.

You’ll also enjoy Pretor-Pinney’s earlier bestseller, "The CloudSpotter’s Guide" (Sceptre, 2007).

Image: Courtesy of Amazon.

Clouds have inspired hearts and souls in all ages for ages. "Weather Lore: A Collection of Proverbs, Sayings and Rules Concerning the Weather, Volume III," by Richard Inwards, was first written in 1893, with a new edition coming out today (Papadakis, September 16, 2013). Volume I and Volume II were republished earlier this year. It is filled with lovely writings and illustrations celebrating clouds, mist, haze, dew, fog, and rainbows.

Richard Inwards, born in 1840, traveled around the world as a manager of international mining projects, but meteorology was his main love. He became joint editor of the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society and president of the society following the original publication of the Weather Lore books.

But after you are done reading, put down your business and look up. The beauty of clouds is good for your mind… and your soul.

Read about the beauty of Clouds all this week, as it relates to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact, including Head in Clouds, Feet on Ground, about a wonderful organization making dreams of healthy happy lives for underprivileged people reality.