This is an image of Earth's tropospheric clouds.
Click on image for full size
Uranus' Troposphere
The troposphere of Uranus is where the
methane clouds are. Clouds form in regions of strong atmospheric motion when condensation takes place. The troposphere is the region rapidly stirred by vertical
motions.
The troposphere is warmed by the sun, warmed by Uranus' interior, and is cooled due to re-radiation to space by the gases of the atmosphere. For a picture showing how the temperature changes in this region, click here.
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The methane cloud deck of Uranus is found low in the troposphere. The methane clouds are the only clouds to be found on Uranus. The location of the clouds is predicted based upon the temperature at which
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This is the temperature profile of Uranus' troposphere. The temperature becomes cooler with height until the tropopause, or "top" of the troposphere is reached. The tropopause is defined to be the altitude
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As on Earth, the atmosphere of Uranus consists of a troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere. The troposphere is the region where the visible clouds are to be found. The stratosphere, as
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Besides methane, Uranus' atmosphere contains more sophisticated atmospheric molecules such as ethane gas, acetylene, and diacetylene. All these molecules form layers of haze at different altitudes high
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The mesosphere of Uranus is a region of balance between warming and cooling. That essentially means that nothing happens there. Except for diffusion, the atmosphere is still. Upper reaches of the atmosphere,
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On Uranus, as on Jupiter, the winds in the belts and zones blow first in one direction, then in the opposite direction. Wind blows east in a belt, and west in a zone. The clouds rise up in a belt, and
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The striped cloud bands on Uranus, like Jupiter, are divided into belts and zones. On Uranus the belts and zones are hard to distinquish. The left picture shows the north pole of Uranus. In this picture
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