AGU: Climate change is making night-shining clouds more visible

2 July 2018

WASHINGTON — Increased water vapor in Earth’s atmosphere due to human activities is making shimmering high-altitude clouds more visible, a new study finds. The results suggest these strange but increasingly common clouds seen only on summer nights are an indicator of human-caused climate change, according to the study’s authors.

https://news.agu.org/press-release/climate-change-is-making-night-shining-clouds-more-visible/

#clouds #noctilucent

Noctilucence Even On Mars!

2021 June 5

The Shining Clouds of Mars
* Image Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS
https://www.nasa.gov/
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/
https://www.msss.com/

Explanation:
The weathered and layered face of Mount Mercou looms in the foreground of this mosaic from the Curiosity Mars rover's Mast Camera. Made up of 21 individual images the scene was recorded just after sunset on March 19, the 3,063rd martian day of Curiosity's on going exploration of the Red Planet. In the martian twilight high altitude clouds still shine above, reflecting the light from the Sun below the local horizon like the noctilucent clouds of planet Earth. Though water ice clouds drift through the thin martian atmosphere, these wispy clouds are also at extreme altitudes and could be composed of frozen carbon dioxide, crystals of dry ice. Curiosity's Mast Cam has also imaged iridescent or mother of pearl clouds adding subtle colors to the martian sky.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210605.ht

#space #mars #atmosphere #noctilucent #astrophotography #photography #science #nature #NASA

2016 July 30

Ripples Through a Dark Sky
* Image Credit & Copyright: P-M Hedén (Clear Skies, TWAN)
https://www.clearskies.se/
https://twanight.org/

Explanation:
Sunlight ripples through a dark sky on this Swedish summer midnight as noctilucent or night shining clouds seem to imitate the river below. In fact, the seasonal clouds often appear at high latitudes in corresponding summer months. Also known as polar mesospheric clouds, they form as water vapor is driven into the cold upper atmosphere. Fine dust supplied by disintegrating meteors or volcanic ash provides sites where water vapor can condense, turning to ice at the cold temperatures in the mesosphere. Poised at the edge of space some 80 kilometers above, these icy clouds really do reflect sunlight toward the ground. They are visible here even though the Sun itself was below the horizon, as seen on July 16 from Sweden's Färnebofjärdens National Park.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160730.html

#space #earth #atmosphere #noctilucent #astrophotography #photography #science #nature #NASA

2016 August 11

Perseid, Aurora, and Noctilucent Clouds
* Image Credit & Copyright: Göran Strand
https://astrofotografen.se/

Explanation:
Night skies over northern Sweden can hold some tantalizing sights in August. Gazing toward the Big Dipper, this beautiful skyscape captures three of them in a single frame taken last August 12/13. Though receding from northern skies for the season, night shining or noctilucent clouds are hanging just above the horizon. Extreme altitude icy condensations on meteoric dust, they were caught here just below an early apparition of a lovely green auroral band, also shining near the edge of space. The flash of a Perseid meteor near the peak of the annual shower punctuates the scene. In fact, this year's Perseid shower will peak in the coming days, offering a continuing chance for a night sky photographer's hat trick.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160811.html

#space #earth #atmosphere #noctilucent #astrophotography #photography #science #nature #NASA

2017 June 23

Solstice Conjunction over Budapest
* Image Credit & Copyright: György Soponyai
https://www.flickr.com/photos/vanamonde81/

Explanation:
Before a solstice Sun rose on June 21, brilliant Venus and an old crescent Moon posed together over Budapest, Hungary for this predawn skyscape. In the foreground the view looks across the Danube river from Buda to Pest toward the dome and peaks of the Hungarian Parliament building. Low clouds are in silhouette against a twilight sky. But far enough above the eastern horizon to catch the sunlight shines another seasonal apparition on that solstice morning, noctilucent clouds. Seen near sunrise and sunset in summer months at high latitudes, the night-shining clouds are formed as water vapor in the cold upper atmosphere condenses on meteoric dust or volcanic ash near the edge of space.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170623.html

#space #earth #atmosphere #noctilucent #astrophotography #photography #science #nature #NASA