Cloud atlas was published in 1802. It followed a similar effort in French by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in 1801. Howard's nomenclature defined four fundamental types of clouds: cirrus or thread-cloud, cumulus or heap-cloud, stratus or flat cloud (level sheet), and nimbus or rain-cloud (see Classification of clouds). There followed a long period of development of the field of meteorology and the classification of clouds, leading up to 1896, the International Year of Clouds. The history of this period is the subject of a popular book, "The Invention of Clouds". During that time, the Englishmen Rev. Clement Ley and Hon. Ralph Abercromby, were influential.
Remote sensing atmospheric boundary layer of buoyantly driven convection that can provide the planetary boundary layer with cumulus clouds at the top of the boundary layer. MCC generally occurs over ocean regions and is primarily found off the coasts of major continents particularly in North and South America. MCC is a form of the Bénard cell where the fluid will rise or fall in hexagonal cells creating hexagonal cloud structure. The capping inversion of the planetary boundary layer acts as a lid for the convection creating a horizontal plane for the hexagonal cloud structures. Satellite observations have been imperative for understanding the horizontal scale and