Just want to clear up a couple of things about this picture and what’s happening. The clouds stop most likely because of an inversion. Others have said it could be the tropopause(which is possible!), but may be unlikely as that would depend on where above the Earth OP was at the this time.
To clarify some things, the tropopause has a different height depending on what latitude you’re at, generally the tropopause is at about 10km above the ground. This is a mid-latitude average and can be as high as 13-14km in the tropics and as low as 7-8km in higher latitudes. This is dependent on temperature. Also, the tropopause is the start of an inversion itself as the atmosphere begins to warm above that as you go into the stratosphere and o-zone layer. That’s generally why cumulonimbus clouds take on an “anvil” shape when they mature.
Without seeing a sounding of the atmosphere that includes those clouds, tough to say why exactly they stop, but my best guess is that there is a decent inversion there with a fair amount of dry air above the cloud top.
OdyOfficial on April 19th, 2018 at 02:12 UTC »
Must have hit the build limit
GlacialAsh on April 19th, 2018 at 02:26 UTC »
I guess now we know what the highest form of flattery is.
Theprofessor23 on April 19th, 2018 at 04:01 UTC »
Just want to clear up a couple of things about this picture and what’s happening. The clouds stop most likely because of an inversion. Others have said it could be the tropopause(which is possible!), but may be unlikely as that would depend on where above the Earth OP was at the this time.
To clarify some things, the tropopause has a different height depending on what latitude you’re at, generally the tropopause is at about 10km above the ground. This is a mid-latitude average and can be as high as 13-14km in the tropics and as low as 7-8km in higher latitudes. This is dependent on temperature. Also, the tropopause is the start of an inversion itself as the atmosphere begins to warm above that as you go into the stratosphere and o-zone layer. That’s generally why cumulonimbus clouds take on an “anvil” shape when they mature.
Without seeing a sounding of the atmosphere that includes those clouds, tough to say why exactly they stop, but my best guess is that there is a decent inversion there with a fair amount of dry air above the cloud top.
Source: Am an operational meteorologist.