Detail View: NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection: Anvil Cloud Over Sicily
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Title:
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Anvil Cloud Over Sicily
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Explanation:
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The cloud poses no danger to the building. Appearing to float above a remote monastery in Sicily [ http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/europe/sicily.htm ], Italy [ http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/it.html ], the anvil cloud [ http://www.weatherquestions.com/What_is_an_anvil_cloud.htm ]'s shape shows several classic cloud features. The cloud itself is composed of millions of very small droplets [ http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/droplets/clouds.htm ] of water and ice [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap021230.html ]. The dramatically flat cloud bottom [ http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/Flagstaff/science/flatcloud.htm ] is caused by temperature falling in the lower atmosphere [ http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/earth/atmosphere.html ] -- above a specific height water-saturated air is forced to condense out water droplets. The shape of the cloud middle is caused by the water-droplet-laden column of air being blown both upward and to one side. The anvil shape [ http://www.metalsmith.org/pub/mtlsmith/V05.3/Hist-anvil.htm ] at the cloud top is likely caused by the upward air column reaching a stable atmospheric layer, likely the stratosphere [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratosphere ], where horizontally moving air fans out the top of the cloud. The cumulonimbus cloud [ http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/wwhlpr/cumulonimbus.rxml ] was captured out the front door of a house last year.
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Credit and Copyright:
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Christina Carlton [ mailto: hdhsc2002 @ yahoo.com ]
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facet_where:
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Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
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facet_what:
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Earth
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original url:
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http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap040218.html
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UID:
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SPD-APOD-ap040218
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