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The Moving Velocity of Cumulus Humilis Clouds by T February 1973 By T. Chiyu, H. Kon and C. Magono 43 The Moving Velocity of Cumulus Humilis Clouds By T. Chiyu, H. Ikon and C. Magono Departmeutof Geophysics,Hokkaido University, Sapporo (Manuscriptreceived 4 May 1972,in revisedform 14 October 1972) Abstract The horizontalmovement of cumulus humilis clouds near Sapporo was measured by the stereophotogrammetricmethod in the summer seasons of the years 1969 to 1971 in Sapporo. The direction and speed of individual cloud movements were presented on charts. The environmentalmeteorological conditions were obtained from the Sapporo rawinsonde soundings. By comparingthe analyticalresults of clouds with the environmental meteorologicalconditions, the followingresults were obtained. The direction of horizontal movementof the higher cumulus humilis clouds was nearly the same as that of prevailingwind direction at the cloud level (exactly speaking, near cloud base level),however, the direction of the lower clouds was not in agreementwith the wind direction. The critical ground height for the agreementof cloud motion direction with wind direction was found to be about 700 meters. The speed of horizontal movement of cumulus humilis clouds was generally less than prevailingwind speed at the level of cloud base. It was also found that the speed of larger clouds was slower than that of the smaller clouds when their heights were the same. The generaltendency was that the lower the clouds, the lower the motion speeds, and the greater the vertical wind shear, the lower the cloud speed. The slowness of cloud speed was qualitatively explained by considering the upward transportation of low horizontal momentumin thermal convections under a condition of the positive vertical wind shear. tainous terrain was studied by Glass and Carlson 1. Introduction (1963), and by Orville (1965). However, most of Cumulus humilis clouds are a species of these studies are concerned with the growth cumulus clouds. These clouds are generally seen characteristics, and give little insight into the in fine weather, particularly in the mountainous relation between horizontal movement of cumulus terrain during morning in the warm season. humilis clouds and the wind velocity. Observations show that the horizontal and the The study of the movement of cumulus clouds vertical dimensions of cumulus humilis clouds is of great importance in the field of cumulus are some tens to some hundreds of meters. The dynamics. This problem has long been the individual cloud bases are usually flat, and the subject of observation and speculation. In recent cloud edges appear sharp. years, the movement of clouds has been studied by Many years ago, Abe (1937 and 1941) observed Shenk and Kreins (1970), utilizing Nimbus II sat- clouds near Mt. Fuji, including cumulus humilis ellite infrared measurements, and by Leese et al. clouds, utilizing the stereoscopic method and (1971) and Endlich et al. (1971), utilizing sequences movies. Cumulus humilis clouds were also of geosynchronous satellite photographs. The aim studied by foreign investigators in the past of these studies is to determine the direction and several years, and their general features have speed of prevailing winds in the environment by been reviewed in detail by Khrigian and Shmeter measuring the motion of clouds. This method (1961). The effect of a mountain range on a small could be used to obtain the wind field pattern cumulus cloud was studied in detail by Braham over a wide area and could be especially useful and Draginis (1960). And the growth charact- in areas where radiosonde soundings are sparse. eristic of cumulus humilis clouds over moun- However, these studies focussed attention on 44 Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan Vol. 51, No. 1 during the summer seasons of 1969, 1970 and 1971. 2. Observation method 2.1. Camera locations In 1969, the cloud observation was made with a single camera, however, in 1970 and 1971, it was made by the stereophotogrammetric technique. Figure 1 shows the location of the camera sites (F and V) and their normal field of view with respect to the mountainous area and the Ishikari Plain by broken lines. The photographing was made by means of a pair of Bronica-S 2 cameras with size of 60*60mm, and with 50mm focal-length lens. Each camera was fixed on a theodolite in order to determine the direction of the camera axis exactly. The base line VF was 1278 meters long. The camera axes were set horizontally and perpendicularly to the base line. Photographs were taken in 30, 60 and 120 second intervals according to the cloud speed. The simultaneity of the photograph was achieved by Fig. 1. Topographicmap of observationarea. a transceiver signal between two camera sites. Dashed lines show field of view of The cloud observation was made between 8a.m. stereo camerasF and V. Long arrows and 10a.m. local time, because routine rawinsonde represent camera axis. Hatched area shows height of topography over sounding was made at 9a.m. by the Sapporo 500m. Meteorological Observatory. large cloud masses whose patterns can be 2.2. Analysis method recognized from the satellite photographs, and Cloud observations in 1970 and 1971 were whose life cycles persisted longer. performed by stereophotogrammetry. Since the However against these studies, there is a severe optical axes of cameras were parallel and oriented criticism that individual cloud movements are horizontally and their heights were nearly the frequently different from the wind system, for same, compared with the base line between example a cap cloud. them, the normal photogrammetry equations Yates (1953) reported a paper of Ludlam who (American Society of Photogrammetry, 1952, or estimated that in a typical wind shear, the bubble Hallert B., 1960) were available in the analysis (or cumulus cloud) was moving over the ground (See Appendix). at a speed which was 3 to 4ft/sec (0.9 to The computations of many cloud positions 1.2m/s) slower than the wind at the bubble were done quickly on a computer. height, however, the cloud size is not given in this paper. On the other hand, cirrus clouds 2.3. Error analysis move with the same velocity as the environment Error analysis is especially of great importance wind, according to the observation of Yagi et al. in such measurements. The errors in stereophoto- (1968). Therefore it is important to clarify the grammetric measurements are composed of mechanism in which the cloud movement agrees many factors, such as inaccuracy in measuring or does not agree with the wind. The cumulus the base line, the focal length of camera, parallax humilis cloud is very convenient in checking between a pair of photographic papers and this problem by observations. The present paper human error in field-work operations. It is very is to describe the results of observations of difficult to estimate all of these errors. motion of cumulus humilis clouds made by Most of the cumulus humilis clouds observed photogrammetry in the vicinity of Sapporo City were located at distances of 5km to 12km February 1973 T. Chiyu, H. Kon and C. Magono 45 from the observational sites. Therefore, it was photographs. However, it was impossible to estimated the error in the horizontal distance estimate the error in this case. was under four percent. Actually, the error on The authors assumed that the error in the measurement of the horizontal distance from cloud height was of 50 meters in the range in observational sites to the known mountain was the present observations, according to the about one percent. experiences of measurements which were hitherto The estimation of error of height is more made by our laboratory in this field. complicated, because in addition to the horizontal distance the reading of the vertical displacement 3. Horizontal movement of cumulus humilis clouds in the photographs of a cloud is required. In During the observations of 1970 and 1971, 20 the present case, it was estimated that the error cases of cumulus humilis clouds were observed. of height was about six percent for a horizontal From the data obtained in the observations, 12 distance of 12km and a height of 1,500 meters. cases of horizontal movement of clouds were Actually, in the case of the measurement of the analyzed. height of known mountain peaks which were The measurement of cloud movement was based made for checking, the error was five percent. on the following procedure. The first step was Besides the errors described above, another to determine the horizontal outline of a cloud significant error may occur in the reading of by measuring the parallax of corresponding points a cloud position in the photographs. The stret- of the cloud in the photographs. Then, the ching and shrinking of photographic papers could center of the outline was assumed to describe be neglected, compared with other errors. The the position of the cloud. Exactly speaking, this most difficult estimation was in the identification position shows the position of cloud base, because of the same position of a cloud in the different the outline observed corresponds to the lower Fig. 2a. Cumulus humilis clouds over mountains, 0856 June 27, 1970. Cloud A was measured. Fig. 2b. Cumulus humilis clouds, 0905. Cloud B was measured. 46 journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan Vol. 51, No. 1 Fig. 3. Location of clouds A and B (left side), and their horizontal movement (right side) on June 27, 1970. Figures in parenthesis under description of movement show the mean width and mean depth of clouds. Cloud bases: 600m. Fig. 4a. Cumulus humilis clouds over mountains, 0951 Sept. 7, 1970. Clouds A and B were moving to the left. Fig. 4b. Cumulus humilis clouds, 0955. Cloud B was separating from cloud A. portion of clouds. The movement of individual means the movement of cloud base, exactly clouds was then measured by the displacement speaking.
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