Awards, Grants, and Contests

Jacob Weniger

Award: Top 100
Award: 2nd Place Natural

School: saint john's preparatory school
Teacher: charles h miller
Category: Natural
Photo #21098

The Senjō Kōsuitai of Japan

​This is a photo of a mature cumulonimbus cloud anvil off the eastern coast of Japan. A cloud of this size is usually evidence of a severe storm happening below. This cumulonimbus is part of the senjō kōsuitai,  which is a linear band of formed cumulonimbus clouds that bisects Japan. The clouds along this line form due to a strong northern wind front channeled through the Sea of Japan. This northern wind meets the warm ocean currents from the south and creates a storm line. The precipitation evaporates in small amounts as it falls and lands,  creating a cold pool. The warm air from the ocean currents underneath is less dense and is thus forced upward through the cloud itself. This pushes the cloud center upward into the anvil shape,  and the storm underneath self-sustains the cloud's shape through latent heat.
​The smooth beam of light under the cloud is a sun-lit rain shaft created by the Mie effect. The Mie effect creates a neutral color scatter (white) because the particle size is large enough to affect all visible wavelengths. This effect usually creates a silvery color; however,  the sunset is filtering through the cloud,  creating a more yellow glow. The orange line just above the cloud cover is called the Belt of Venus,  which is created from the backscatter of the sun,  which is directly behind the viewer. This scatter is created by the Rayleigh effect from light of the setting sun having to travel through more atmosphere. Since blue has a shorter wavelength,  it is scattered out early,  leaving orange to be seen at the far side of the atmosphere. All of these effects combined create a glorious view of the natural world.