Clouds

Cirrus Kelvin-Helmholtz Clouds

Here is a photograph of another Cirrus Kelvin-Helmholtz cloud; however, you may notice that this wave starts small and gradually becomes more prominent and less defined.

As mentioned earlier, this is because layers of air form these clouds. However, they just as quickly destroy them, too. But how did this strange cloud formation get its name? This type of cloud was first described in the late nineteenth century by Scottish physicist Baron Kelvin (1824-1907 and German physicist Hermann von Helmholtz (1821-94). The title of the cloud combines both men’s last names, linking back to the cloud’s origins.

Many of us have probably never seen this type of cloud before, but there is an understandable explanation. Weather experts claim there is usually “insufficient moisture present to generate cloud and render the pattern visible”. These clouds occur commonly in the upper troposphere; however, they often remain invisible to the human eye.