© Tze Ching Ho
Benxi, Liaoning, China
Latitude: 41° 29' 32'' N
Longitude: 123° 41' 23'' E
29 September 2015 1635 (Local Time)
Image P/S code: P.4.11
Image I.D.: 5642
CL = 0, CM = 5, CH = 2
This is an excellent example of a thin (variety translucidus) sheet (species stratiformis) of invading Altocumulus where the long rolls of merged elements (variety undulatus) are merging into a thick layer upwind.
Through the small gaps (variety perlucidus), thick patches of Cirrus (species spissatus) are visible.
A nearby upper-air sounding confirmed a relatively high Altocumulus base of 5 500 m (18 000 ft).
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This layer of Altocumulus (species stratiformis) is clearly translucent (variety translucidus) and gaps between the elements permit the sky to be seen (variety perlucidus)(2). The elongated elements, almost parallel to one another indicate the variety undulatus(4). The layer was invading the sky.
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This layer of medium-level cloud is Altocumulus. Its rounded masses and rolls have an apparent width of between 1° and 5° and there is some shading. The specific species of this Altocumulus is classified as stratiformis, due to the cloud’s extensive coverage of the sky. The sheet of cloud is sufficiently translucent to reveal the position of the Sun, and so it is also of the variety translucidus. In places there are spaces between the cloud elements, which also indicates the variety perlucidus, and the enlongated and broadly parallel rolls indicate that the variety undulatus also applies.
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The photo shows a layer of Altocumulus stratiformis undulatus perlucidus, viewed from an aircraft at an altitude of approximately 1 1000 m over the Italian Alps. At the lower right of the picture, some Cumulus clouds can be seen over the mountains.
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The cloud layer is made up for the most part of fairly large rolls (1 - 2, 3 - 4), roughly rectilinear and parallel. Clear sky is visible between the rolls (variety perlucidus). The clouds were progressively invading the sky. The photograph was taken in a maritime polar air mass between a cold front and an occlusion, both of thundery character.
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