And some experts believe the stormy weather phenomenon deserves its very own classification.
Experts at the Royal Meteorological Society
are now attempting to make it official by naming it 'Asperatus' after
the Latin word for 'rough'.
If they are successful, it would be the first variety of cloud formation to be given a new label in over half a century
'It is a bit like looking at the surface of a choppy sea from below,' said Gavin Pretor-Pinney, founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society, who identified the cloud from photographs sent in by members.
Dramatic: The ribbons across the sky look like a 'choppy sea viewed from below'
Cloudy skies: If 'Asperatus' sticks, it could be the first such classification in half a century
'We try to identify and classify all of
the images of clouds we get in, but there were some that just didn't
seem to fit in any of the other categories, so I began to think itmight be a unique type of cloud.'
He added: 'The underside of the clouds are
quite rough and choppy. It looks very stormy, but some of the reports
we have been getting suggestthat they tend to break up without actually turning into a storm.'
The Royal Meteorological Society is now
gathering detailed information for the days and locations where the
asperatus clouds have been seen in an attempt to understand exactly
what is causing them.
Officials will then apply to the UN's World
Meteorological Organisation in Geneva to have the new cloud type
considered for addition into the International Cloud Atlas, the system
used by meteorologists across theglobe.
Professor Paul Hardaker, Chief Executive of the RMS, said: 'There would probably need to be quite a lot of heat around to produce theenergy needed to generate such dramatic cloud formations.
'They are quite dark structures so there must be a lot of water vapour condensing in the cloud.
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Skies over Scotland: This scene from Perthshire could help confirm the new 'Asperatus' classification.【元記事終了】
