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Sunday, December 11, 2016

MYSTERIOUS BLUE CLOUDS OBSERVED OVER ANTARCTICA

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The mystery of the glowing blue clouds over Antarctica: NASA spots strangely early 'night clouds'
  • AIM spacecraft saw 'night-glowing' clouds forming 50 miles above Earth
  • Phenomenon tied with earliest start date yet recorded over Antarctica 
  • These clouds are composed of ice crystals and seeded by meteor debris
  • When they reflect sunlight, they have a 'shocking' blue colouring 
  • According to NASA, Nov 17 marked the start of noctilucent cloud season in the Southern Hemisphere.  These are Earth’s highest clouds, and sit between our planet and space in the mesosphere.

Continue reading and see more images

 
‘Night-shining’ clouds forming 50 miles above Earth’s surface have been spotted glowing over Antarctica far earlier than usual.  

The polar phenomenon, captured by NASA’s Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere spacecraft, tied with the earliest start date yet recorded by the instrument in the Southern Hemisphere – Nov 17.
 
The clouds are composed of ice crystals and seeded by debris from disintegrating meteors, giving them a ‘shocking’ blue hue when they reflect sunlight. 

The polar phenomenon, captured by NASA’s Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere spacecraft, tied with the earliest start date yet recorded by the instrument in the Southern Hemisphere
 
 
According to NASA, Nov 17 marked the start of noctilucent cloud season in the Southern Hemisphere.  These are Earth’s highest clouds, and sit between our planet and space in the mesosphere.
 
According to NASA, they are observed seasonally, during summer in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres, when the mesosphere is at its most humid, sending water vapour up from lower altitudes.
 
At this time, it is also the coldest place on Earth, hitting temperatures as low as -210 degrees Fahrenheit as a result of air flow patterns.
 
Studying these clouds provides insight on the behaviour of this layer of the atmosphere, and its role relative to other layers, weather, and climate. 
 
The start of the season has been recorded anywhere from Nov 17 to Dec 16, and this year’s early appearance lines up with the early seasonal changes observed at lower altitudes. 

 
Noctilucent clouds, also called polar mesospheric clouds, form between 47-53 miles above Earth’s surface (76-85 km), according to the space agency.  Here, water vapour freezes into clouds of ice crystals, which are illuminated when the sun is below the horizon.
 
AIM launched in 2007, and has revealed Earth’s complex atmospheric teleconnections – how changes in one reason affect the responses of others. 
 
Sources
 
 
 

 
 
 Bizarre lenticular cloud over Antarctica - Discover Magazine
 




 
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