Asperatus clouds

Mesmerizing time-lapse of some Asperatus clouds. It makes it appear like you are viewing ocean waves from beneath the surface.

Asperitas (formerly known as Undulatus asperatus) is a cloud formation, proposed in 2009 as a separate cloud classification by the founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society. If successful it will be the first cloud formation added since cirrus intortus in 1951 to the International Cloud Atlas of the World Meteorological Organization.^[2] The name translates approximately as "roughness".^[3]

The clouds are most closely related to undulatus clouds.^[3] Although they appear dark and storm-like, they tend to dissipate without a storm forming.^[4] The ominous-looking clouds have been particularly common in the Plains states of the United States, often during the morning or midday hours following convective thunderstorm activity.^[5] As of June 2009 the Royal Meteorological Society is gathering evidence of the type of weather patterns in which asperitas clouds appear, so as to study how they form and decide whether they are distinct from other undulatus clouds.^{[3][4] ~ Wikipedia}

The name Asperatus comes from the Latin for to roughen or agitate. Virgil used the word in a poem to describe the surface of the sea whipped up by the north wind.

 Asperatus cloud rolls over Hanmer Springs, South Island, New Zealand.

 Asperatus cloud rolls over Hanmer Springs, South Island, New Zealand. 

 Asperatus clouds over Burnie in Tasmania, Australia.

 Asperatus clouds over Cedar Rapids, Iowa, The ribbons across the sky look like a 'choppy sea viewed from below'.

 Asperatus-cloud-Over-Comb-005 Combe Head, Salcombe Regis, Sidmouth, Devon.

 Asperatus clouds over Illinois, US.

 Asperatus clouds over Nîmes, France.

Asperatus, coats the sky in Perthshire, Scotland.

Asperatus, coats the sky in Perthshire, Scotland.

 Asperitas over Tallinn, Estonia

This turbulently undulating cloud photographed over Cedar Rapids Iowa.

Turbulent motions between differing air masses create undulating clouds as seen over rural Kansas in the early morning hours of April 28 2006.

This turbulently undulating cloud photographed over Cedar Rapids Iowa.

 This turbulently undulating cloud photographed over Cedar Rapids Iowa.