Third Blog " Abha's Clouds"

Abha’s Clouds 

Clouds are phenomenal objects that fly in the sky most of the time, yet we lack a lot of information about them all because of our ignorance. There are many types of clouds that form in different geological regions and weather conditions. Abha , Saudi Arabia , where I came from, encounters many of these clouds types with its huge reputation of cloudy climate among Saudis. 

Common Types of Clouds 

The process of condensation of evaporated water leads to the formation of clouds. These formations results to many types of clouds that range from a low level to a high level clouds. 

Clouds Reaching Houses in the Mountains  

The formation of clouds is one of the fundamental processes of the water cycle in earth. Stratus, Altostratus, Cirrus and Cumulus are most of common types of the clouds.  Stratus is considered a low cloud type. Altorstarus is a middle level cloud and cirrus is a high level cloud. On the other hand, Cumulus has a vertical deployment formation. Abha has all these types of clouds. 

Fogs on the Highway 

Abha is known of being partially cloud over the course of the year. In the summer time, “the sky mostly clear 47% of the time, partly cloudy 29% of the time, and mostly cloudy or overcast 7% of the time”. However; in the wintertime, the sky is mostly cloudy or overcast and foggy 70% of the time and partly cloudy 30% of the time.

Clouds above Earth Level 

All in all, clouds are one of the main sources of fresh water. The kingdom of Saudi Arabia has tried to condense Abha’s clouds to generate rain using some type of condensation chemicals and they sprayed them on the clouds. They were successful and they generated “enforced rain”.

Second Blog

Rock Decay

 Rock Decay:

Abha’s weather is changing from being hot to cold but mostly cold , therefore weathering consequences can occur. Many processes shape earth’s surface, one of the important processes is weathering. It is the beginning of changing the earth’s surface, and it occurs over, relatively, large periods of time. It is important to understand the difference between weathering and erosion. Weathering is rock decay, while erosion is the process of transporting weathered material. Weathering and similar processes are studied in the field of geomorphology, which is a combination between both Geography and Geology.

Weathering:

Chemical Decay

There are two different types of weathering. The first type is physical weathering, which can happen in many forms. Physical weathering takes advantage of physical weaknesses in a rock, and increases their numbers. For example, frost decay is one of the important physical weathering processes. It happens more prevalently in high altitudes and latitudes where many freeze-thaw cycles happen. It happens when water seeps into joints, freezes, thermally expands, and melts back. This happens over large periods of time, and after a sufficient number of cycles, blocks of rocks will be pushed away. The second type is chemical decay is the chemical alteration of rocks and minerals. One of the most important chemical decay processes is dissolution. In this process, a mineral is completely dissolved by water. This causes many constructional problems. Sink holes happen when limestone dissolves by groundwater, which makes it important for people to study the layers underneath where they want to build.

 Mass Wasting:

Mass Wasting

Since Abha is above the sea level, it is surrounded by mountains. Mass wasting depends primarily on gravity to transport decayed material down slopes. The material that is being transported is called colluvium. It is important to understand mass wasting in order to mitigate its hazards. Many people lose their houses due to mass wasting. Mass wasting can happen in many forms. Rocks can fall, slide, topple, or flow.