Cloud atlas

History

Throughout the 19th century, nomenclatures and classifications of cloud types were developed, followed late in the century by cloud atlases. The first nomenclature of clouds in English was published by Luke Howard in 1802. It followed a similar effort in French by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in 1801. Howard's nomenclature defined four fundamental types of clouds: cirrus or thread-cloud, cumulus or heap-cloud, stratus or flat cloud (level sheet), and nimbus or rain-cloud (see List of cloud types).

There followed a long period of development of the field of meteorology and the classification of clouds. In the late 19th century, Clement Ley and Ralph Abercromby contributed to building a classification for clouds..{{cite book

The first International Cloud Atlas was published in 1896, to coincide with another International Meteorological Conference. It was a political and technical triumph, and an immediate de facto standard. The scientific photography of clouds required several technical advances, including faster films (shorter exposures), color, and sufficient contrast between cloud and sky. Albert Riggenbach used a Nicol prism to filter polarized light, thereby increasing the contrast. Other researchers achieved similar results using mirrors or lake surfaces, and selectively photographing in certain parts of the sky.{{cite journal

Many subsequent editions of International Cloud Atlas were published, including editions in 1906 and 1911. Several other cloud atlases appeared, including in 1908 M. J. Vincent's Atlas des Nuages (known in English as Vincent's Cloud Atlas), which was based on the 1906 International Cloud Atlas, but with additions, and it classified the clouds into three group by height of the cloud base above ground: lower, middle, upper.{{cite journal |author-link=James Glaishier

Notable cloud atlases

The 1890 Cloud Atlas is the first known cloud atlas and book of this title, by Hildebrandsson, Wladimir Köppen, and Georg von Neumayer.{{cite book

The first International Cloud Atlas was published in 1896.{{cite book

Structure

The German nomenclature typically has 5 parts: main component, genus, species, variety, and supplement. Another nomenclature is reflected in the Wikipedia template :

References