Pyrocumulonimbus

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The pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) is a type of cloud formed above a source of heat such as a wildfire or industrial plant. It is the most extreme manifestation of pyrocumulus. According to the American Meteorological Society’s Glossary of Meteorology, a pyrocumulus is a cumulus cloud formed by a rising thermal from a fire, or enhanced by buoyant plume emissions from an industrial combustion process[1]. Analogous to the meteorological distinction between cumulus and cumulonimbus, the pyrocumulonimbus is a fire-aided or –caused convective cloud but with considerable vertical development. The pyroCb reaches the upper troposphere or even lower stratosphere and may involve precipitation (although usually light), hail, extreme low-level winds, and in some cases even tornadoes [2]. The pyroCb was named following the discovery that extreme manifestations of this pyroconvection caused direct injection of large abundances of smoke into the lower stratosphere [3]>[4]

Alternate spelling and abbreviations for pyrocumulonimbus that may be found in the literature include pyro-cumulonimbus, pyro-cb, pyro-Cb and pyrocb.


[edit] References

  1. ^ Pyrocumulus entry in the AMS Glossay
  2. ^ Fromm, M., A. Tupper, D. Rosenfeld, R. Servranckx, and R. McRae, Violent pyro-convective storm devastates Australia's capital and pollutes the stratosphere. Geophysical Research Letters, 2006. 33: p. L05815, doi:10.1029/2005GL025161
  3. ^ Fromm, M., et al., Observations of boreal forest fire smoke in the stratosphere by POAM III, SAGE II, and lidar in 1998. Geophysical Research Letters, 2000. 27: p. 1407-1410.
  4. ^ Fromm, M. and R. Servranckx, Transport of forest fire smoke above the tropopause by supercell convection. Geophysical Research Letters, 2003. 30(10): p. 1542.



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Clouds    
High Clouds (Family A): Cirrus (Ci) • Cirrus uncinus • Cirrus Kelvin-Helmholtz colombia • Cirrostratus (Cs) • Cirrocumulus (Cc) • Pileus • Contrail
Middle Clouds (Family B): Altostratus (As) • Altostratus undulatus • Altocumulus (Ac) • Altocumulus undulatus • Altocumulus mackerel sky • Altocumulus castellanus cloud • Altocumulus lenticularis
Low Clouds (Family C): Stratus (St) • Nimbostratus (Ns) • Cumulus humilis (Cu) • Cumulus mediocris (Cu) • Stratocumulus (Sc)
Vertical Clouds (Family D): Cumulonimbus (Cb) • Cumulonimbus incus • Cumulonimbus calvus • Cumulonimbus with mammatus • Cumulus congestus • Pyrocumulus  • Pyrocumulonimbus


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