According to findings published in Nature Geosciences, Stratocumulus clouds that protect us from hothouse Earth conditions by reflecting sunlight back into space could break up and vanish if carbon dioxide in the atmosphere triples. If they disappear, Earth would warm dramatically leading to melting of polar ice and lifting sea levels.
About:
Stratocumulus cloud consists of large, rounded masses of stratus that form groups, lines or waves. They usually have gaps between them, but they can also be joined together.
These low-level clumps or patches of cloud varying in colour from bright white to dark grey.
Formation:
Stratocumulus clouds usually form from a layer of stratus cloud breaking up. They are indicators of a change in the weather and are usually present near a warm, cold or occluded front.
Stratocumulus clouds cover about 20 percent of subtropical oceans, mostly near western seaboards such as the coasts of California, Mexico and Peru.
Weather conditions associated: Stratocumulus clouds can be present in all types of weather conditions, from dry settled weather to more rainy conditions. Stratocumulus are often mistaken for rain clouds, when in reality it is quite rare to get anything more than the lightest drizzle from them, if anything at all.
Types: Stratocumulus clouds are grouped into four different 'species' -
Stratocumulus stratiformis - These are essentially flat based layers of cloud often with a few cracks between.
Stratocumulus cumulogenitus - These form when rising cumulus clouds encounter a temperature inversion and spread outwards clumping together.
Stratocumulus castellanus - These are thicker, more drizzly stratocumulus clouds.
Stratocumulus lenticularis - Very different in appearance to the more spectacular altocumulus lenticularis, they form when hills produce atmospheric waves, which contribute to their lens-like shape.
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