Monster Raindrops Delight Experts

Status
Not open for further replies.
Z

zavvy

Guest
<b>Monster Raindrops Delight Experts</b><br /><br />http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3898305.stm<br /><br />Scientists have observed the biggest raindrops recorded on Earth - which may be a whopping 1cm in size. <br /><br />The monster water droplets were observed from the air, by atmospheric experts studying clouds. <br /><br />They were recorded over Brazil and the Marshall Islands, a group of atolls and reefs in the central Pacific Ocean. <br /><br />US scientists report in Geophysical Research Letters that a large fire may have influenced the formation of the huge raindrops recorded over Brazil. <br /><br />"They are the biggest raindrops I have seen in 30 years of flying," Professor Peter Hobbs, co-author of the report told BBC News Online. <br /><br />Professor Hobbs and colleague Arthur Rangno, of the University of Washington, US, recorded the droplets as being about 8.8mm and possibly as large as 1cm. He speculated that some of these giant droplets even reach the ground. <br /><br />Raindrops in free-fall are often depicted as teardrop-shaped. In fact, raindrops with diameters larger than 2mm are flattened on their undersides and gradually change in shape from spherical to jellyfish-shaped. <br /><br />Average drops of rain are between 1 and 2mm in diameter. The previous largest raindrops recorded - 8mm wide over Hawaii - were reported by researchers in 1986. <br /><br />Smoking gun <br /><br />Images of the raindrops were taken by a laser instrument on a research plane that flew through cumulus congestus clouds spawned by burning forest in Brazil's Amazon and in clean marine air over the Marshall Islands. <br /><br />The authors propose that in Brazil, the giant raindrops were formed by condensation of droplets on to giant smoke particles. <br /><br />However, this was clearly not the case for the mammoth raindrops observed in the Marshall Islands. The scientists think that here, the droplets
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts