New Kind Cloud Discovered

June 29, 2009 by  
Filed under Features

cloud

By Laura Leigh Davidson
June 29, 2009

As anyone knows who has looked up at the sky, clouds come in many shapes and sizes. Most clouds fall into three main categories. Cumulus (kyoo-myuh-luhs) are big, fat clouds that look like huge cotton balls. Cirrus (sir-us) clouds appear wispy and look like feathers. And stratus clouds look like fog hanging high above the ground.

Now, a group of sky-watchers wants to add a new type of cloud to the crowd-but first they’ll have to convince the experts that this cloud exists.

Picture This

In 2006, Jane Wiggins was watching a storm blow in from her office in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Suddenly, she saw the sky fill with rolling green- and yellow-tinted clouds. The clouds seemed to change from light to dark by the minute.

“It looked like someone was going to come out of the sky,” she told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “It was so unreal.”

Wiggins captured a photo of the threatening midwestern sky and posted it on the Internet. She wanted to see what others thought of the unusual cloud formation.

Gavin Pretor-Pinney and members of his Cloud Appreciation Society studied Wiggins’s photo. The cloud admirers compared it with similar images from all over the world.

The group came to believe these clouds didn’t fit into any of the existing categories. So Pretor-Pinney started a campaign to get weather authorities to create a new cloud name.

Experts Weigh In

There are a few obstacles standing in Pretor-Pinney’s way.
 
Many meteorologists, or scientists who study weather, are skeptical that these are new types of clouds. (Pretor-Pinney has not studied meteorology formally.)

Some experts who have seen Pretor-Pinney’s collection of photos think they are simply a combination of existing types of clouds.

What’s more, it could take years of scientific investigation before the debate reaches the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The WMO is the only group with the authority to officially name clouds. And the WMO doesn’t take its naming duties lightly. The group hasn’t recognized a new type of cloud since the 1950s.

But experts at the Royal Meteorological Society in the United Kingdom think Pretor-Pinney may have a case. In addition to studying images of the clouds, they are talking with people who took the photos. The meteorologists are trying to find out exactly what combination of weather could spark such an unusual cloud formation.

Royal Society executive director Paul Hardaker is among the scientists studying the collection of cloud evidence.

“By this stage, we think it’s sufficiently interesting to explore it further and we’re optimistic about the information we’ve got,” Hardaker told a major American news service.

Whatever the result of the cloud-naming campaign, Pretor-Pinney’s enthusiasm for clouds isn’t likely to be dampened. He loves clouds so much he gave his 3-year-old daughter the middle name “Cirrus.”

Source: Scholastic News Online

Editor’s Note: We would like to know what you think? dan@youngchronicle.com

Greenhouse-Gas Pollution Confirmed

May 11, 2009 by  
Filed under Features

Air PollutionBy Laura Leigh Davidson
May 11, 2009

Students who voted in the 2009 Kids Environmental Report Card gave the United States a “C minus” for its response to environmental issues. But the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) made an announcement last week that may help the country get a higher grade from kids and others who are concerned about the effects of climate change.

The EPA officially declared carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gas emissions a danger to the public’s health.

EPA scientists have spent the last two years studying the concentration of these six gases in Earth’s atmosphere. They said their studies show extremely high levels of the harmful pollutants.

The agency says human activities are likely the cause of the rise in greenhouse gases. The EPA also said the high concentration of the gases results in the trapping of heat in the atmosphere. This causes the temperature of Earth’s atmosphere to rise-a process called global warming.

“This finding confirms that greenhouse gas pollution is a serious problem now and for future generations,” EPA administrator Lisa Jackson said on Friday.

The EPA’s report says that global warming causes a range of dangers to the public’s health. The most noticeable of these dangers is extreme weather.

Countries around the world have seen an increase in the number and length of heat waves and droughts in recent years. Extended periods of high temperatures with no rainfall make land dry and more prone to wildfires.

But many areas are experiencing the opposite problem. Severe storms and damage-causing floods are much more frequent. Why? As the planet warms, more water evaporates from the ocean. This transfers heat from the ocean into the atmosphere. That heat fuels storms.

Now that the EPA has linked these greenhouse gases to a danger to public health, the process of placing limits on the emissions will begin.

“Fortunately, [the EPA’s findings] follow President Obama’s call for a low-carbon economy, and strong leadership in Congress on clean energy and climate legislation,” Jackson said.

Members of the Senate and House of Representatives are currently working on bills that propose specific limits, or caps, on greenhouse gas emissions. Limiting the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere by power plants and industries is likely to curb, or slow down, the process of global warming.

If you would like to tell your congressional Representative or your U.S. Senator how you feel about climate change, global warming, and other environmental issues, use the Kids Environmental Report Card letter-writing tool to help get you started.

MORE FROM THE EPA

Scholastic Kid Reporter Madison Hartke-Weber gets more details on what the U.S. government is doing to help the environment from EPA administrator Lisa Jackson here.

Scholastic News Online.

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