[Northwest Loop] Cloud and Celestial Phenomena Record Manual

been thinking

What method should be used

As a souvenir for this Gansu Qinghai Loop Line

Wrote a travel diary

I also drew a diary

It’s all for yourself to see

But this is my life when I was twenty

The most glorious experience

Of course I want to share it with you

Hence this article

Cloud and Celestial Phenomena Record Manual of the Gansu-Qinghai Loop

On the flight to the destination, the mountains stood out under heavy clouds. In the picture, you can see some Flag Clouds flying on the mountain peaks and a less obvious Mountain Hat Cloud in the distance.

Mountain hat clouds are formed when the atmospheric state is relatively stable, and the airflow over the mountain peaks becomes cold and forms clouds, as if putting a hat on the mountain peak.

And when strong wind blows over the mountain, the cloud formed after cooling over the mountain is Flag Cloud, which flutters like a flag on the leeward side of the peak.

Zhuoer Mountain in the Qilian Mountains, with flag clouds flying on the distant peaks

The light pouring through the clouds in the city

Cloud light , also known as twilight strips , is a type of Tyndall phenomenon. The size of aerosol colloidal particles is similar to the wavelength of visible light, causing Mie scattering of sunlight, thus forming a light path visible to the naked eye.

Light in the clouds at Dunhuang Black Sand Tsui

The sun is hidden by stratocumulus clouds, and sunlight extends to the ground through gaps in the clouds. The Twilight Strip extending to the ground is also known as Jacob's Ladder.

On the way to Emerald Lake, we encountered a large area of ​​cloud light.

The golden twilight strips on the Mangya Emerald Lake

Encountered the misty Hooked Cirrus Cloud and the elegant Feathered Cirrus Cloud in Dunhuang

Cirrus clouds usually have no gray parts, like commas.

When the humidity at high altitude is high, the cloud particles in cirrus clouds continue to grow, forming feather cirrus clouds that resemble feathers or fish bones.

Cirrus clouds near Qinghai Lake

Cirrus clouds are fibrous white cirrus clouds that are almost completely extended. The individual clouds are independent of each other and do not form hooks, flocs, etc.

On the way to Shuiyadan, everyone rested at a gas station and suddenly saw an excellent horseshoe cloud when they looked up.

The upward-moving small-scale airflow rotates when encountering a sudden change in the horizontal wind direction, forming a horizontal vortex, and the crescent-shaped clouds produced are horseshoe clouds.

Later, I encountered two more horseshoe clouds on the road, and found a fourth horseshoe cloud when I arrived at Xitai Genair Lake.

Horseshoe clouds are rare and only last from tens of seconds to two minutes from formation to dissipation. I feel extremely lucky to have encountered one once, and to meet four of them in one day is something I have never imagined.

Look for the Horseshoe Cloud seen at Xitai Jinai Lake.

Near the Tianjun Stone Forest, clouds produce precipitation that reaches the ground.

Precipitation streak cloud

Slowly dyed into a dreamy grapefruit color by the sunset

The beautiful combination of rapeseed fields and streamer clouds in Gangcha County, Qinghai Lake

(Looking at Flower Cloud from the side)

Banner-shaped clouds are like clouds growing tails, and like jellyfish floating in the ocean in the sky. Flower clouds are different from Precipitation streak clouds in that the water droplets or ice particles that fall from the cloud evaporate before reaching the ground. It bends like a streamer because the precipitation particles have different heights and different lateral movement distances in the vertical wind shear movement of the atmosphere. They fall to the tips of the streamer clouds and are completely evaporated. The closer to the tip, the smaller the particle size and falling velocity of the precipitation particles, so the lateral movement distance is greater.

Looking up at the flag-shaped clouds

Lenticular clouds encountered in Zhangye, like UFO

Lenticular cloudsare thick in the middle and thin at the edges, resembling a pod or a flying saucer. Its Latin name means "lentil".

Lenticular clouds seen next to Qinghai Lake

It’s Qinghai Lake again, this time it’s two clouds

Pioneer clouds appear only briefly on top of the developing Cumulus congestus or Cumulonimbus , as if putting a hat on the cumulus cloud.

While taking pictures in the rapeseed field in Menyuan, I suddenly saw a small rainbow above the fence, and I became excited.

I ran to a more open place without walls and took a look.

It’s actually Double Rainbow

The inner rainbow of the double rainbow is called the primary rainbow , and the outer one, which is larger but darker and lighter, is called the secondary rainbow (also known as neon ). The primary rainbow is from purple to red from the inside to the outside, while the color arrangement of the secondary rainbow is reversed.

The inner side of the primary rainbow is brighter because this area is illuminated by light reflected from the raindrops. Likewise, light also shines on the outside of the secondary rainbow. The darker sky between the main and secondary rainbows is called Alexander's dark band , and the light reflected in the raindrops does not reach this area.

Snowy mountains shaded by stratocumulus clouds

Water-shaped stratocumulus clouds above Lake Jinelle in Dongtai cover the sun

The morning glow at Shuangliu Airport when the journey started

Sunset at Mingsha Mountain

The sunset and the fire clouds in Boluo Zhuanjing Town

The sunset seen after leaving Shuiyadan, the huge sun disk

After coming out of Zhangye Geopark, the beautiful sunset

Cumulus clouds cast shadows on the hills

Precipitating clouds in the distance

(I suspect it is responsible for the double rainbow we see)

Light cumulus clouds in the sky swim with the whale-backed Yadan on the ground

The gray-black castle cloud is like a monster living in the blues hour

There is a small wave in the upper right corner of the alien ruins street sign

can not see clearly? One more piece

Find where the small waves are in this picture

Appeared! Cloud-making machine!

The shy cumulus clouds hiding behind the mountains are so cute

This trip brought too many surprises, not only the clouds and optical phenomena mentioned above, but also the stunning Milky Way and Comet Neowisdom, which will return in about 7,000 years. It is so friendly to astronomy enthusiasts.

When I stay at home and at school, I see the most common and common types of clouds every day, and it seems that they can never change into anything different.

You will encounter new things every day on the journey, and there may be new surprises every second. This is why I love the astronomical phenomena so much. It changes rapidly and you never know what kind of encounter you will have at the next moment.