You can't look around when you're looking up, so we've had a look around for you. If you have cloud news that you think we should include here, please email it to us at: news@cloudappreciationsociety.org.

---

09/22/2008
Fun way to test your cloud skills

Here’s another fun way to sharpen up your cloud recognition skills.

This cloud quiz at sporcle.com gives you three minutes to name the eight outlines.

It shouldn’t prove too testing for those who have read The Cloudspotter’s Guide from cover to cover and there are even altitude clues if you get stuck.

Unlike the NASA puzzle, the quiz doesn’t change.

But once you have sorted your cirrostratus from your cumulonimbus, you can always test your knowledge of essential facts, including Fictional Pirates, Big Mac Ingredients or - my personal favourite - George Carlin’s Seven Dirty Words.

Our thanks to Mary Daniels in Ohio, USA, for telling us about it.

---

09/18/2008
Great clouds: shame about the film

It’s one of life’s little ironies that one of the most stunning cinematic cloud sequences appears in a Nazi propaganda film.

Leni Riefenstahl’s 1935 Triumph of the Will, commissioned by Hitler to portray him as the leader destined to rebuild Germany as a great power, makes uncomfortable viewing, even as an historical document.

However, despite the appalling subject matter, students of cinema have long recognised that Riefenstahl used ground-breaking techniques, including aerial photography.

The good news is that the cloud footage, shot from a plane, comes right at the beginning of the film, so you don’t have to fast-forward your way through reels of fascist flag waving.

Our thanks to filmmaker Koldo Almandoz (member 13286), who came across the footage while researching Nazi cinema.

---

09/18/2008
The burning issue of climate change

Thanks to a certain lipstick pitbull, the long-running debate about whether we are responsible for climate change has been given some high-profile coverage recently.

But while Sarah Palin wowed the Republicans in Minnesota, scientists have been quietly getting on with research into the effects of pollution on our weather.

One small piece of research into that complex relationship apparently shows how smoke from fires set to clear farmland in the Amazon in the dry season could either prevent clouds from forming, or accelerate cloud formation.

The outcome depends partly on the amount of aerosols - soot and tiny particles produced by burning coal, oil and vegetation. It also depends on how cloudy the skies are to begin with, and cloud height.

Ironically, either outcome can reduce rainfall: The aerosols can warm and dry out the air, or they can spawn so many cloud droplets that they exhaust available moisture before droplets can grow heavy enough to fall as rain.

You can read more about the research in the journal Science.

---

09/02/2008
Scientists with the white stuff to tackle global warming

Listening to the news yesterday, you might have been forgiven for thinking it was April 1, not September 1.

The BBC soberly reported that scientists were considering using wind-driven ships to spray salt into the air to make clouds whiter so they could reflect more solar energy and help reduce global warming.

Stranger still, it turns out this is just one of the ingenious ideas discussed in a special edition of the Royal Society’s journal devoted entirely to the pros and cons of geo-engineering, large-scale interventions to help modify the Earth’s climate.

Others include blocking sunlight by floating mirrors in space, using rockets to spray sulphur into the upper atmosphere, and seeding the oceans with iron to trigger plankton blooms that would draw carbon from the water before locking it away on the sea bed as the plankton died and sank to the bottom.

The cloud-seeding idea is explored in a section called “Sea-going hardware for the cloud albedo method of reversing global warming”.

It explains: “Wind-driven spray vessels will sail back and forth perpendicular to the local prevailing wind and release micron-sized drops of seawater into the turbulent boundary layer beneath marine stratocumulus clouds. The combination of wind and vessel movements will treat a large area of sky.

“When residues left after drop evaporation reach cloud level they will provide many new cloud condensation nuclei giving more but smaller drops and so will increase the cloud albedo to reflect solar energy back out to space.”

But before you think it’s ok to leave all the lights on and take your 4 x 4 out for a spin, the Royal Society makes it clear such schemes would only tackle the symptoms, not solve the problem.

“None of these technologies will provide a ‘get out of jail free card’,” said Martin Rees, President of the Royal Society. “They must not divert attention away from international efforts to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.”

---

09/02/2008
Cloud lights to brighten up your day

Here’s the perfect thing for cloud lovers looking for some light relief.

These hanging lamps could brighten up your day by bringing a little bit of the sky indoors.

Available in fluffy white or pale blue, the Nimbus lights are being sold on a French website as a fun way to decorate children’s bedrooms.

Strictly speaking, perhaps they should have been called Cumulus, and blue is an interesting choice of colour for a cloud.

But who could deny this could be a great way to introduce the younger generation to the wonders of cloud-watching?

---

08/25/2008
Looks familiar?

Fans of the Clouds That Look Like Things section of our world-famous photo gallery may want to check out the Environmental Graffiti website.

It features what it calls the “30 Creepiest Clouds on Earth”, including cloud faces and figures, cloud animals and other bizarre shapes.

Some of them, like Gavin Tobin’s Red Snapper over The Blasket Islands, County Kerry, Ireland (pictured right) will be familiar to members but there may be a few you haven’t seen before.

Our thanks to Craig Butcher (member 9808) for the weblink.

---

07/31/2008
Cloudy day on the horizon

Update, August 22: this event has been cancelled.

Do you sometimes confuse your cirrus with your altostratus? Are you a bit hazy about how storm systems form? Would you like to know how to do your own forecasts?

If the answer is yes, then perhaps you ought to sign up for a special one-day weather course dedicated to clouds run by the Weather Shop near Eastbourne.

Their Clouds Weather Day on September 6 will look at what the clouds and their movement, height, development and dispersal tell us about what is going on above our heads and often what is likely to happen on the ground.

The day will look at all types of clouds, from the innocuous small white puffy cumulus to the grand-daddy of the sky, the cumulonimbus, and explores the ‘how and why’ of their formation.

It will also look at the bigger picture, to examine the role they play across the globe in the development of both storm systems and larger weather systems, especially those that affect the British Isles.

You can find out more by visiting the Weather Shop website.

---

07/29/2008
Have a whale of a time at cloud-friendly exhibition

Our American members, and intrepid international travellers, may care to drop in on a cloud-friendly exhibition in the Cape Cod area.

Sea and Sky at the New Bedford Whaling Museum includes paintings and photographs by 19th and early 20th century American artists and 20th century photographers.

Ten of the works on display are small oil studies of clouds by William Bradford, a New Bedford artist with an international reputation. All of the paintings and photographs are of sea- and skyscapes, primarily of the New Bedford region but with several Arctic scenes as well.

Local members of the National Weather Service helped to identify the cloud formations depicted in the works and the cloud symbols have been incorporated in the labels. A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration cloud chart encourages visitors to test their skill at cloud identification.

“Your website, and the Cloudspotter’s Guide by Gavin Pretor-Pinney, have been immeasurably helpful during the planning for this exhibition,” said Madelyn Shaw, the museum’s Vice President for Collections and Exhibitions.

---

07/29/2008
Madonna and child? You cannot be cirrus

The fantastic photos taken by our members have helped make the CAS cloud gallery famous throughout the world.

Some of the top favourites are those hilarious images of clouds that look like things, from dogs barking to the Michelin Man robbing a bank.

Among our most prolific contributors is Modestino Carbone (member 7416) from Naples in Italy and one of his images has been used to illustrate a new exhibition in Germany.

The Climate Project, which runs at the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum in Dresden until next April, looks at the most recent theories from meteorology and climate research while at the same time addressing the question of how culture and history change our understanding of weather and climate.

Modestino’s Skeletal Cirrus illustrates the chapter of the exhibition catalogue called Wolkengeist (Cloud Spirit) about clouds that look like things.

---

06/16/2008
Take me to the space station - and make it snappy

Arguments still rage about whether NASA’s space programme has been worth all those billions, but you have to admit astronauts take great pictures.

The 154th US manned space mission blasted off last week, with the shuttle Discovery delivering, among other things, a Buzz Lightyear action figure and sesame seed bagels to the international space station.

On the way, they found time to snap some astounding photographs of clouds from 200 miles up. You can see them here. Our thanks to Craig Butcher and Luke Massey for telling us about them.

---

06/12/2008
Theodora’s got her head in the clouds

We can all breathe a sigh of relief - cloudspotting has got the thumbs up from New York’s fashion elite.

Vogue reports that Theodora Richards, international model and daughter of Rolling Stones legend Keith Richards, likes to kick back and look at clouds after a hard day wowing them on the catwalk.

Theodora, apparently known for her rock chic style and outgoing personality, would even like to join our society, but seems to be having problems.

She told the magazine: “I’ve been trying to become a part of The Cloud Appreciation Society.

“This eccentric Englishman and his wife have begun this society and you get your number and you send in your pictures of what you’ve seen in the clouds and if it’s a really decent picture, you can have it put in a book.”

Yep, that’s a fair description Theodora. And if you’re still having trouble, here’s a handy link to our membership page.

---

06/09/2008
Cirrus clouds make a surprise exit

Cirrus clouds are performing a disappearing act which is taking scientists by surprise.

In the global warming debate, it is assumed that temperature rises will lead to more rainfall, which in turn will see an increase in high-altitude cloud cover that will trap infrared heat.

But research on tropical climate systems has found the opposite is happening, with cirrus clouds thinning as the air warms, leading to rapid cooling as infrared heat escapes from the atmosphere to outer space.

Controversially, these new tropical climate findings may force scientists to change their global warming forecasts.

“To give an idea of how strong this enhanced cooling mechanism is, if it was operating on global warming, it would reduce estimates of future warming by over 75 percent,” said Dr. Roy Spencer, of The University of Alabama . “The big question that no one can answer right now is whether this enhanced cooling mechanism applies to global warming.”

Read more about the research here.

---

06/05/2008
Glorious sight over the Pacific

If you were lucky enough to be off the coast of Mexico last month, you might have been treated to a spectacular optical effect known as a glory.

A glory is a ring-shaped, rainbow-like phenomenon caused by the scattering of sunlight by a cloud made of water droplets that are all roughly the same size.

One of the rings of the glory which appeared over the Pacific on May 28 was about 60 kilometres wide.

Unfortunately, you would have to have been above cloud level to see it. Luckily for us, NASA’s Aqua satellite happened to be passing at the time, 700 kilometres up, and snapped this picture on the right.

Read more about it on NASA’s website.

---

05/12/2008
Corporate clouds on the horizon

We all enjoy the playful side of cloudspotting, using our imagination to see shapes like the face of Salvador Dali or A Pig With Six Legs.

However, soon our skies may feature Mickey Mouse ears and Coca-Cola symbols, thanks to the latest bright idea in advertising.

Two Hollywood special effects inventors are marketing a machine that can pump out 4ft foam clouds in the shape of company logos at the rate of one every 15 seconds.

Called Flogos (flying logos), they are made from soap bubbles filled with helium and can travel 30 miles at up to 20,000ft before evaporating, according to the product’s website.

Major brands like Disney and Apple are said to be interested but not everyone likes the idea of high-flying ads. CAS founder Gavin Pretor-Pinney told a Sunday newspaper: “I find the concept of someone sending up clouds in the shape of a Coca-Cola logo, or something like that, absolutely abhorrent.

“If you live in the city you are constantly bombarded by corporate messages. Clouds, with their formlessness, are the last wilderness you have to gaze upon. It would be a sad day if you gaze up and find that you had a company logo in the clouds.”

Flogo co-inventor Brian Glover is upset that his project has caused offence. “Mr (Francisco) Guerra and myself developed Flogos as a entertaining, visually pleasing display. These are very benign soap foam shapes, not roadside billboards.

“We see Flogos being used sparingly, at special events or parades. It will unlikely be a daily occurrence, polluting the sky everywhere.”

---

04/21/2008
Opportunity rocks on Mars

Earthbound cloud watchers will be glad to know they are not alone.

No, we are not talking about Little Green Men, although the observer scanning the skies does live on Mars.

Our fellow cloud lover is Opportunity, one of the two Mars Exploration Rovers which have been studying the history of water on that inhospitable planet since landing in 2004.

In March, Opportunity lifted its robot eyes skyward to video clouds drifting overhead, according to an update on The Planetary Society website. The clouds it captured passing over Victoria Crater look like cirrus clouds on Earth, feather-like formations composed mostly of ice crystals.

Thanks to Carole Boon for sifting through pages of scientific reports to bring us this gem.

---

04/21/2008
China ready to blast clouds over Olympic stadium

China has had a bad press recently - and it is about to get worse.

First there was the Olympic torch fiasco; now it seems the Chinese hate clouds enough to blast them out of the sky.

News reaches us from a reliable source (Reuters) that China is preparing to fire rockets at any clouds threatening to rain on the Olympics opening ceremony at the roofless stadium in Bejing.

Crews surrounding the city will be on alert to fire rockets or cannons containing silver iodide at approaching clouds in the hope of making them rain before they reach the stadium, says the report. Three aircraft will also be on standby to drop catalysts to unleash rain from the clouds.

Our thanks to the appropriately-named Glenn Rainey (member 146) for spotting this story.

---

04/17/2008
Puzzling attraction of cloud jigsaw

Too much time on your hands? Looking for something to amuse the kids?

Then why not try this cloud puzzle from NASA, the people who also brought you the first man on the moon.

It’s cool, slightly addictive and has the added benefit of being educational. Every time you unscramble the jigsaw, it tells you what kind of clouds they are.

Then you can either pick a new puzzle or scramble the picture into smaller pieces and do it all over again. Ah, hours of endless fun . . . .

---

04/17/2008
Cloud cover theory that’s a hot topic

It seems that clouds may hold the key to what scientists call our planet’s supergreenhouse episodes.

Climate experts know it was much warmer during the Cretaceous and Eocene periods, roughly between 146 and 35 million years ago. Average temperatures in the tropics were above 100 degrees Fahrenheit and polar temperatures were in the 50-degree Fahrenheit range.

Previously, they worked on the theory that increases in gases like carbon dioxide caused the warming. Now they believe it was reduced cloud cover, which in turn changed the Earth’s albedo (the amount of sunlight reflected into space).

According to researchers, there may have been changes in the production of cloud condensation nuclei, the tiny particles around which water condenses to form rain drops and cloud droplets. This would have led to fewer and less bright clouds and increased the sun’s warming effect.

Click here to read more about the science behind the idea.

---

03/28/2008
Cool plan for clouds to combat global warming

Cloud lovers will be proud to hear that our fluffy friends may soon be helping to slow down global warming.

Scientists are working on an ingenious plan to restore cloud cover in semi-arid regions, like West Africa, by harvesting rainwater and using it to increase soil moisture.

Combined with selective tree-planting, it is hoped this will encourage clouds to form naturally, helping to both reflect direct heat from the sun and also carry heat from the earth and radiate it out to space.

There could be many other positive side-effects for the local population, including improved agriculture and forestry and reduced flooding.

Visit the Global Cooling Project website if you want to learn more.

If you are a graphic designer, you may be able to offer some practical help. The project is looking for someone to design a logo for visiting cards and letterheads, possibly including stratus and/or cumulonimbus clouds over land. Email Ray Taylor (ray [at] andy-taylor.org) for more information or use the contact form on his website (see above).

---

03/13/2008
In-flight cloud movie that’s streets ahead of the rest

As experienced spotters will know, low clouds can sometimes line up parallel to the wind to form cumulus radiatus, also known as cloud streets.

While it is not uncommon for convection currents to form such patterns, photos like this that clearly show the clouds rolled into strips are apparently rare. It was taken by a Japanese coast guard aircraft off the north-eastern coast of Hokkaido.

As an added treat, you can watch a video of the cloud streets shot through the aircraft window.

Our Japanese is a little rusty but we are reliably informed that the narration says the clouds floated just over the sea surface, stood 300 metres tall and stretched for more than 100 kilometers.

Thanks to Craig Butcher (member 9808) for telling us about it.

---

03/10/2008
It’s life, Jim, but not as we know it

Life has been found in some unlikely places on this planet of ours, from permafrost in polar regions to black smoker vents on the ocean floor.

Now it seems there is startling evidence that clouds are also home to a range of tiny organisms.

It has been known for some time that bacteria, algae and fungi can be found in clouds and are often transported long distances. But recent research claims that some hardy bacteria actually live there, feeding on nutrients in cloud water. They grow, metabolise and reproduce, until falling back to earth when it rains.

This raises further fascinating questions: such as whether some microbes have evolved specifically to live in clouds; and whether they contribute to the formation of clouds as water droplets cling to them.

You can read more about this here. Our thanks to Dell Hollingsworth for spotting the New York Times article.

---

02/21/2008
UFO or cloud? We haven’t the foggiest idea

The question facing morning commuters was: is this a photograph of a UFO, or just a car park on a foggy night?

Our members might be more inclined to believe the disc-shaped object, circled near the top right of the picture, is a lenticular cloud rather than a visitor from outer space.

Hab Rahman, who snapped it near his home in Portsmouth, is not so sure.

“I’ve never really believed in UFOs but this is a bit weird and freaky – I just cannot think what else it could be,” he told Metro, the London-based free newspaper.

---

02/17/2008
Performance takes a look-see at clouds

What do homemade smoke bombs and musical interludes have to do with clouds?

The best way to find out is to watch Cloud Piece, a theatre work which declares a love and fascination with the sky.

Performer Nic Green says she will also need a camping stove (for heating), a brown fan (for blowing), her own bodily fluids (for moisture), rain water (also for moisture), potatoes (for beauty), a ten-year-old (for imagination) and a lighter (for emotional songs).

Cloud Piece aims to appreciate the difference between looking and seeing, between seeing and really seeing, and between surface seeing and seeing into.

You can see it every weekend at Battersea Arts Centre, London, from February 22- March 15.

---

01/29/2008
Chilling display of London’s weather

Feeling overheated by global-warming worries? In a sweat about your carbon footprint?

Then go and chill out at Weather Permitting: London’s Changing Climate, one of two exhibitions in London museums featuring cloud content.

Find out about the capital’s weather - the storms, floods, freezes, heatwaves, fogs and smogs - and how Londoners have coped with the best (and worst) that the elements have thrown at them over the last 2000 years. The display is in the foyer of the Museum of London from February 15 until April 20.

Meanwhile, Out of the Ordinary: Spectacular Craft, is at the V & A now until February 17 and features Annie Cattrell, who has created sculptures of clouds from a particular day laser etched into blocks of glass. The clouds are positioned within the glass block in relation to their height in the atmosphere.

Her subjects are fleeting things, such as clouds or breath inside a human lung, and stem from her interest in anatomy and meteorology.

---

01/20/2008
Cloud art deters graffiti taggers

Never underestimate the power of clouds.

A disused pub in Brighton was being targeted by graffiti taggers, so the council commissioned artist Stig Evans to come up with some designs for the building.

Police say it hasn’t been defaced since his images of white clouds and blue skies were placed on the windows four months ago.

“It’s unusual and quite calming,” said a police spokeswoman. “People seem to have a respect for the art of it.”

Read more about this story here.

---

01/11/2008
Clouded in mystery

An unidentified flying cloud (UFC) has been spotted in Hungary.

It was long, thin, shaped like an outstretched arm and appeared briefly in the house of Gyula Somlai (member 8164), an architect living in Budapest.

Gyula says he was taking pictures of his wife in her new dress with his digital camera and was amazed to discover the cloudy shape in the images when he uploaded them to his PC.

“I attest to the fact that no artificial manipulation of any kind has occurred to the photos,” he said. “I have unsuccessfully consulted experts in photography and even researchers of inexplicable phenomena.”

---

01/11/2008
Dreamy sounds of clouds

Ever wondered what a journey through clouds might sound like?

A group of Italian musicians, Sparkle in Grey, have musing on that idea and the result is an album called Nefelodhis, which apparently means cloudiness in Greek.

“The album is a desperate but dreamy picture in sounds of the concept of clouds,” say the musicians, who describe themselves on their website as an experimental post-rock boy band. “It sounds like a trip through the wet lands made of vapour.”

You can make up your own mind by listening to selected tracks here.

---

12/14/2007
Space probe helping to solve mystery of cloud high-fliers

New images of noctilucent clouds taken by a NASA spacecraft may help solve the mystery about why they form - and why they are changing.

Noctilucent (night shining) clouds are the highest on Earth and can be seen as thin bands in twilight skies about 50 miles up. But these latest pictures give a global view of them rotating round the Arctic, allowing scientists to measure them.

Data returned by the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) satellite may explain why the clouds are getting brighter, are being seen more often and are appearing at lower latitudes.

One theory is that a build-up of greenhouse gases in the upper atmosphere may be responsible. The clouds, also known as Polar Mesospheric Clouds, appear to be extremely sensitive to temperature variation and may be acting as thermometers for climate change.

You can read more about this story here.

---

12/10/2007
Ho ho ho - but reindeer lookalike is no joke

A seasonal cloud-lookalike has made the headlines in a New Zealand newspaper.

This picture of a cloud in the shape of a reindeer had readers of The Dominion Post wondering whether the photographer was having a laugh.

But Alan Blacklock, who took the shot in early December while sitting in the backyard of his home in Wellington, insisted it was genuine.

“I am sure some people will be a bit sceptical about this because of the time of year, but it is absolutely 100 per cent authentic,” said Mr Blacklock, who photographs clouds for the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research.

Our thanks to Jill Towers from Australia (member 4193), who sent us a cutting of the news story.

---

12/10/2007
Beach bar that mirrors the sky

Anderby Creek, a beach on the Lincolnshire coast, will soon have its own official cloudspotting area, endorsed by the society.

Artist Michael Trainor is redesigning a disused shelter at the popular holiday destination into a ‘cloud bar’.

Visitors will be able to gaze at cloud formations by reclining in specially designed seats and treat themselves to unusual views by turning a mini-forest of parabolic mirrors which will bring the sky down to human level. There will be cloud menus with descriptions and examples of clouds to help them identify what they see.

Society founder Gavin Pretor-Pinney has agreed to make it an official cloudspotting area and the special CAS logo pictured here will be incorporated into the design.

It is hoped the Anderby Creek Cloud Bar will be finished by March 2008.