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waterspout; South Atlantic Ocean (photo by E.A.W.G.S. Egalla)
waterspout (photo by I.C. Oke)
Windspouts above an expanse of water are called waterspouts. They can be identified from a downward pointing trunk or funnel under a cumulus or cumulonimbus cloud. Water is often sucked up around the foot of the trunk, so a sort of cylinder of water droplets is visible above the surface of the sea.