A Historical Perspective on Cloud Mergers

Abstract

While the idea of “merging” clouds may seem to be conceptually simple on first consideration, the term has been employed in a variety of ways. Despite its wide usage over the past several decades, there appears to be no consensus as to the definition of “merger.” In this historical review, the concept of merging is traced from the earliest radar and aircraft studies through some of the more recent observational and numerical studies dealing with multiple cloud interactions.