Sorooshian Discusses How to Calculate the Weight of Clouds

If clouds aren't dominating the sky, they're dominating our art. They even play a major role in science. CHEE professor Armin Sorooshian recently spoke to Live Science about one important question: how much do clouds really weigh? The fact that they're floating belies the fact that they can contain millions of pounds of water. But this is because, as Sorooshian explains, the entire volume of the cloud is not just the droplets; there's air, too.

But to accurately calculate the weight of a cloud, "you need to know something about the dimensions of the cloud," Sorooshian said. 

One researcher worked out that problem by measuring the size of a cloud's shadow and estimating its height. Even with a rough estimation on the conservative side, some clouds can be hundreds of tons.

Sorooshian previously received the 2019 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Award, which recognizes research by exceptional scientists in the fields of atmospheric and climate sciences. Sorooshian won the award for his work in NASA airborne missions, the Differential Aerosol Sizing and Hygroscopicity Spectrometer Probe, and how clouds redistribute particles and modify aerosol composition.