# Do clouds reflect sound? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 7, 2020, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-clouds-reflect-sound/920070 "2020-09-07T22:30:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-clouds-reflect-sound/920070/22 "2020-09-09T15:29:47Z")
I am absolutely convinced that fog deadens sound. But to this layman’s intuition that makes it seem as if a cloud would absorb sound, not reflect or refract it and thus make it less noisy or at least have no effect. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-clouds-reflect-sound/920070/23 "2020-09-09T16:52:29Z")
If the clouds are associated with a thermocline, does anyone know if/how that affects sound? I recall this coming up in some submarine warfare adventure fiction, so clearly my sources are . . . sound. ---
**Author:** ![GMANCANADA](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gmancanada/32/2837_2.png) [@GMANCANADA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GMANCANADA)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-clouds-reflect-sound/920070/24 "2020-09-09T17:12:26Z")
Interesting to follow this debate - I assumed it was an absolute yes based on my own anecdotal experience. I once lived in a high-rise in Toronto several kilometres (miles) from the train tracks that ran along the lakeshore (by the CN tower). There were many blocks of skyscrapers between us and the tracks. At night with less absent noise and with low cloud cover we could very clearly hear the trains slowly clunking along the tracks and the sound as they changed up the cars. It was like they were outside our window. ISTM the only possible way the sound would have made its way to us was via reflection (or refraction?) off the low cloud cover above. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-clouds-reflect-sound/920070/25 "2020-09-09T17:27:53Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > If the clouds are associated with a thermocline, does anyone know if/how that affects sound? I recall this coming up in some submarine warfare adventure fiction, so clearly my sources are . . . sound. See **[my post further upthread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-clouds-reflect-sound/920070/13)**. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-clouds-reflect-sound/920070/26 "2020-09-09T18:07:12Z")
This doesn’t specifically mention thermoclines, but I’m assuming you get one when there’s an inversion? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-clouds-reflect-sound/920070/27 "2020-09-09T18:41:17Z")
Sorry, I should have clarified; yes, an inversion is in fact a thermocline. > **[Thermocline | Atmosphere](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermocline#Atmosphere)** > > Thermocline - A gradiant based on distinct temperature differences within a body of similar matter. ie. Atmosphere, Ocean, Lake, etc. > The thermal boundary between the troposphere ( lower atmosphere ) and the stratosphere ( upper atmosphere ) is a thermocline. > Temperature generally decreases with altitude, But the heat from the days exposure to sun is released at night, which can create a warm region at ground with colder air abve. > This is known as an inversion ( a further example of a thermocl... The board sofwtware crops off of the quoted material from the Wikipedia right before it mentions the relevance to highway noise pollution. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2020, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-clouds-reflect-sound/920070/28 "2020-09-09T18:42:21Z")
Thanks. That was probably obvious but I’m very much not up to speed on atmospheres or sounds. ---
**Author:** ![Chopstick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Chopstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chopstick)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2020, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-clouds-reflect-sound/920070/29 "2020-09-10T02:12:29Z")
I know light waves, not sound, but waves is waves\* When you have a sudden change in properties, say a thermocline or surface of a lens, three things can happen. Some energy is reflected, some is absorbed (usually as heat), and some is transmitted. Transmitted includes refraction. So a thermocline is temperature boundary, the bottom of a clod is a density/humidity boundary, so they could reflect sound. Inside a cloud or fog, you still have some reflection, but there would be a lot more absorption from all the extra water droplets particles to interact with. So sound from somewhere else in the cloud would be muffled. Hearing via refraction, I suspect, would be a lot more difficult & complicated scenario, but I don’t really know. - Yeah, transverse vs longitudinal, but similar enough to give insight. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-clouds-reflect-sound/920070.md?page=1)