Re: What keeps clouds up?

[PHRP@FHSUVM.FHSU.EDU (Roger A. Pruitt)]

> The interesting thing I observed from an airliner was that a large pool of
> fog was *pouring* from a valley through a gap between two hills and
> spreading over a large flat landscape like a liquid.  The observable
> structure of the flow, the little bits of turbulence, etc., looked
> *exactly* like we see when white misty CO2 is poured across a table.  The
> upper surface of the fog displayed slow moving gravity waves, just like a
> pool of CO2 fog does. Fluid dynamics is neat!  Huge flow structures miles
> across can be totally identical to tiny ones on a tabletop.
>
> .....................uuuu / oo \ uuuu........,.............................
> William Beaty  voice:206-781-3320   bbs:206-789-0775    cserv:71241,3623
> EE/Programmer/Science exhibit designer        http://www.eskimo.com/~billb/
> Seattle, WA 98117  billb@eskimo.com           SCIENCE HOBBYIST web page

Rather than the fog pouring from a valley, this probably was caused by cold
air pouring from a valley, and as it poured it cooled the air sufficiently
so that fog formed. The result would appear that the fog droplets poured out.

Roger

Roger A. Pruitt, PhD
Professor of Physics
Fort Hays State University
Hays, KS  67601