John Fagan caught these nacreous clouds over Ireland and posted the photo to Earthsky Facebook on Monday.
We began getting photos of nacreous clouds on our Facebook page on Monday (February 1, 2016), from the UK. These clouds – sometimes called polar stratospheric clouds, or mother-of pearl-clouds – are putting on amazing display there this week! Les Cowley at the great website Atmospheric Optics has posted several photos of them in his Optics Picture of the Day. Tuesday morning, he wrote:
There were yet more spectacular polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) this morning (and in daytime) over Ireland and UK. The low stratospheric temperatures continue and we should see more after sunset this evening (February 2, ’16).
These pictures give a true picture of how the rarest of clouds actually appear in the sky. But the reality is better.
Look all around the sky at 15 to 45 minutes after sunset.
Nacreous clouds over Dublin on February 1, 2016, posted to EarthSky Facebook by Q Del Moral.
Les also posted a beautiful explanation for these clouds, saying:
Nacreous clouds, sometimes called mother-of-pearl clouds, are rare but once seen are never forgotten. They are mostly visible within two hours after sunset or before dawn when they blaze unbelievably bright with vivid and slowly shifting iridescent colours. They are filmy sheets slowly curling and uncurling, stretching and contracting in the semi-dark sky. Compared with dark scudding low altitude clouds that might be present, nacreous clouds stand majestically in almost the same place – an indicator of their great height.
They need the very frigid regions of the lower stratosphere some 15 – 25 km (9 -16 mile) high and well above tropospheric clouds. They are so bright after sunset and before dawn because at those heights they are still sunlit.
They are seen mostly during winter at high latitudes like Scandinavia, Iceland, Alaska and Northern Canada. Sometimes, however, they occur as far south as England.
Indeed they do, as the photos below show! Thanks, Les, and thanks to all who posted pics of the clouds at EarthSky Facebook!
Nacreous clouds over Dublin on the morning of February 2, 2016, posted to EarthSky Facebook by Owen Dawson in Bishop-Auckland, UK.
Nacreous clouds over Burton Upon Trent, UK, posted to EarthSky Facebook on February 2, 2016, by Will Plant.
Nacreous clouds over Warrington, UK, posted to EarthSky Facebook by Kimberley Aldred on the morning of February 2, 2016.
from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1PdZIg1
John Fagan caught these nacreous clouds over Ireland and posted the photo to Earthsky Facebook on Monday.
We began getting photos of nacreous clouds on our Facebook page on Monday (February 1, 2016), from the UK. These clouds – sometimes called polar stratospheric clouds, or mother-of pearl-clouds – are putting on amazing display there this week! Les Cowley at the great website Atmospheric Optics has posted several photos of them in his Optics Picture of the Day. Tuesday morning, he wrote:
There were yet more spectacular polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) this morning (and in daytime) over Ireland and UK. The low stratospheric temperatures continue and we should see more after sunset this evening (February 2, ’16).
These pictures give a true picture of how the rarest of clouds actually appear in the sky. But the reality is better.
Look all around the sky at 15 to 45 minutes after sunset.
Nacreous clouds over Dublin on February 1, 2016, posted to EarthSky Facebook by Q Del Moral.
Les also posted a beautiful explanation for these clouds, saying:
Nacreous clouds, sometimes called mother-of-pearl clouds, are rare but once seen are never forgotten. They are mostly visible within two hours after sunset or before dawn when they blaze unbelievably bright with vivid and slowly shifting iridescent colours. They are filmy sheets slowly curling and uncurling, stretching and contracting in the semi-dark sky. Compared with dark scudding low altitude clouds that might be present, nacreous clouds stand majestically in almost the same place – an indicator of their great height.
They need the very frigid regions of the lower stratosphere some 15 – 25 km (9 -16 mile) high and well above tropospheric clouds. They are so bright after sunset and before dawn because at those heights they are still sunlit.
They are seen mostly during winter at high latitudes like Scandinavia, Iceland, Alaska and Northern Canada. Sometimes, however, they occur as far south as England.
Indeed they do, as the photos below show! Thanks, Les, and thanks to all who posted pics of the clouds at EarthSky Facebook!
Nacreous clouds over Dublin on the morning of February 2, 2016, posted to EarthSky Facebook by Owen Dawson in Bishop-Auckland, UK.
Nacreous clouds over Burton Upon Trent, UK, posted to EarthSky Facebook on February 2, 2016, by Will Plant.
Nacreous clouds over Warrington, UK, posted to EarthSky Facebook by Kimberley Aldred on the morning of February 2, 2016.
from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1PdZIg1
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