Where are the different cloud types found in the atmosphere?
1 Answer
We break up the atmosphere into etages (there should be an accent over the e but my keyboard isn't set to french).
The low etage is from the surface of the Earth to around 6500ft. The clouds found here are Stratus(ST), Stratusfractus(SF), Cumulofractus(CF), Stratocumulus(SC), Cumulus(CU), Towering Cumulus(TCU), Cumulonimbus(CB), and Nimbostratus(NS).
The middle etage is from 6500ft to 20000ft. The clouds of this etage are Altocumulus(AC), Altostratus(AS), and Altocumulous castellanus(ACC).
The high etage is above 20000ft up to 40000ft. The clouds here are called cirrus(CI), cirrostratus (CS) and cirrocumulus(CC).
The etages heights are estimates and are in reference to the bases of the clouds.
There is another type of cloud called noctilucent clouds. These clouds are the highest clouds in the atmosphere, and they are so high they are above the stratosphere. Unless you live north of 50N latitude or S of 50s latitude, you will never see them.
