Cloud Properties


from NOAA chart

low clouds:

up to 6500 ft
up to 2 Km
up to 800 mBar (275 K)
Sc,St,Cu,Cb (Stratocumulus,Stratus,Cumulus,Cumulonimbus)

middle clouds:

6500 ft to 23,000 ft
2 Km to 7 Km
800 mBar to 400 mBar (240 K)
Ac,As,Ns (Altocumulus, Altostratus, Nimbostratus)

high clouds:

16,500 to 45,000 ft
5 Km to 13.75 Km
530 mBar (255 K) to 140 mBar (216 K)
Ci,Cc,Cs (Cirrus, Cirrocumulus, Cirrostratus)

ReffVeff (Hansen, 1971)
Fair Weather cumulus5.560.111
Altostratus7.010.113
Stratus11.190.193
Cumulus congestus10.480.147
Stratocumulus5.330.118
Nimbostratus10.810.143

Earth is typically covered about 50%
average precipitable water is about 2.5 cm
average time aloft is 9 days (from 100 cm of rain/year)
in thunderstorm approximately 10% of water is released

suspended droplets 1 µm to 100 µm
cloud over continents have smaller droplets