CLOUD PICTURES FROM SATELLITE TIROS I

Abstract

Some of the more striking examples of cloud phenomena revealed by the first pictures that have come from the experimental weather satellite, TIROS I, are presented, and broad-scale patterns in the pictures are interpreted in terms of general features of the associated weather maps. These preliminary results show that a vast variety of scales appear in the cloud patterns associated with cyclonic vortices. Marked differences, as well as similarities, in cloud patterns associated with several types of cyclones are pointed out; the cyclones discussed include mature vortices in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, younger cyclones over and near the United States, and a typhoon in the South Pacific Ocean. The cloud cover over an extensive area is portrayed by means of preliminary mosaics of TIROS pictures and by a schematic cloud map made from the pictures.