A cloud is a visible mass of minute liquid droplets, ice crystals, or other particles floating in the atmosphere of a planetary body or comparable space, according to meteorology. The droplets and crystals might be made of water or a variety of different substances. On Earth, clouds develop when the air is chilled to its dew point or when it receives enough moisture (typically in the form of water vapor) from a neighboring source to raise the dew point to the ambient temperature. They can be observed in the troposphere, stratosphere, and mesosphere of the Earth’s homosphere. The science of clouds is called nephrology, and it is part of the cloud physics branch of meteorology. The Latin and common techniques of naming clouds in their respective homosphere levels exist.

Because of the widespread acceptance of Luke Howard’s nomenclature, which was formally suggested in 1802, genus types in the troposphere, the atmospheric layer closest to Earth’s surface, have Latin names. It provided the foundation for a contemporary worldwide system that separates clouds into five physical forms, each of which may be further split or categorized into height levels to yield ten fundamental genera. Stratus, cirrus, stratocumulus, cumulus, and cumulonimbus are the most common cloud types for each of these shapes. There are no altitude-related prefixes for low-level clouds. The prefix alto- is used for mid-level stratiform and stratocumuliform kinds, whereas cirro- is used for high-level variations of these two types. There are no altitude-related prefixes on genus types with enough vertical extent to occupy more than one level. They are technically categorized as low- or mid-level based on the height at which they first form, and they are sometimes referred to as multi-level or vertical informally. The majority of the ten genera produced by this technique of categorization can be further split into species and variations. Fog and mist are popular names for very low stratiform clouds that reach down to the Earth’s surface, although there are no Latin names for them.

The major kinds of clouds in the stratosphere and mesosphere have common names. Stratiform veils or sheets, cirriform wisps, or stratocumuliform bands or ripples are all possibilities. They are only observed occasionally, primarily in the Earth’s polar regions. Other planets and moons in the Solar System and beyond have been found to contain clouds in their atmospheres. They are typically comprised of various chemicals such as methane, ammonia, and sulfuric acid, as well as water, due to their different temperature properties.

Tropospheric clouds have the potential to influence global climate change. They may deflect incoming solar rays, resulting in a cooling impact where and when these clouds form, or they may trap longer wave radiation that reflects back up from the Earth’s surface, resulting in a warming effect. The major variables that impact the local heating or cooling of Earth and the atmosphere are the height, shape, and thickness of clouds. Clouds that develop above the troposphere are too few and too thin to have any impact on global warming. The major source of uncertainty in climate sensitivity is clouded.

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