In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol comprising a visible mass of minute liquid droplets, frozen

crystals, or particles suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of a planetary body.[1] The
droplets and crystals may be made of water or various chemicals. On Earth, clouds are formed as a
result of saturation of the air when it is cooled to its dew point, or when it gains sufficient moisture
(usually in the form of water vapor) from an adjacent source to raise the dew point to the ambient
temperature. They are seen in the Earth's homosphere (which includes the troposphere,
stratosphere, and mesosphere). Nephology is the science of clouds which is undertaken in the cloud
physics branch of meteorology.

There are two methods of naming clouds in their respective layers of the atmosphere; Latin and
common. Cloud types in the troposphere, the atmospheric layer closest to Earth's surface, have Latin
names due to the universal adaptation of Luke Howard's nomenclature. Formally proposed in 1802,
it became the basis of a modern international system that divides clouds into five physical formsthat
appear in any or all of three altitude levels (formerly known as étages). These physical types, in
approximate ascending order of convective activity, include stratiform sheets, cirriform wisps and
patches, stratocumuliform layers (mainly structured as rolls, ripples, and patches), cumuliform
heaps, and very large cumulonimbiform heaps that often show complex structure. The physical
forms are divided by altitude level into ten basic genus-types. The Latin names for applicable high-
level genera carry a cirro- prefix, and an alto- prefix is added to the names of the mid-level genus-
types. Most of the genera can be subdivided into species and further subdivided into varieties.

Two cirriform clouds that form higher up in the stratosphere and mesosphere have common names
for their main types. They are seen infrequently, mostly in the polar regions of Earth. Clouds have
been observed in the atmospheres of other planets and moons in the Solar System and beyond.
However, due to their different temperature characteristics, they are often composed of other
substances such as methane, ammonia, and sulfuric acid as well as water.

Taken as a whole, homospheric clouds can be cross-classified by form and level to derive the ten
tropospheric genera and the two additional major types above the troposphere. The cumulus genus
includes three species that indicate vertical size. Clouds with sufficient vertical extent to occupy
more than one altitude level are officially classified as low- or mid-level according to the altitude
range at which each initially forms. However they are also more informally classified as multi-level or
vertical.