Tag: Noctilucent clouds

More on those noctilucent clouds

Otherwise known as Night Shining Clouds

There was an article on Learning from Dogs on July 22nd about these mysterious and beautiful clouds.

This is just an update to show you an example of photographs taken by Finn Jari Luomanen over the night of the 29th-30th July. All the pictures may be seen here – they are of this quality:

2010_07_29-30 Mesoscale convective system

Here’s what Jari said about this night:

This mesoscale convective system sweeped over Finland with ferocious energy. The day before was historical as a record breaking temperature of 37,2 degs Celsius was recorded. The MCS proved to be a good match.

Thunderstrikes happened every two seconds at the peak and it was difficult to expose correctly due to the multiple strikes in each exposure.

Noctilucent clouds shone above the swiftly moving cell creating an eerie electric blue backdrop for the spectacle.

Never before have I seen anything close to this. I was jumping behind the tripod firing away in the hot, humid night. Since when has Finland turned into tropics?

This is a very beautiful planet!

By Paul Handover

Night shining clouds

Better known as Noctilucent Clouds

(Hoping this link is still available on the BBC web site)

Just watch this and be inspired!

From that BBC link:

Each summer, high in the night skies of the far northern and southern hemispheres a unique phenonmenon occurs – noctilucent clouds. Little is known about them, but now an amateur astronomer from north Wales is trying to predict when they are likely to appear.

Here, John Rowlands, one of four finalists in the BBC’s search for the Amateur Scientist of the Year So You Want To Be A Scientist? – and his mentor, Professor Nick Mitchell from the University of Bath – take a closer look at these mysterious silver and blue waves at the edge of space.

John has his own Facebook page here with plenty more information.

And a quick Google images search found this:

Noctilucent clouds

And there’s still more. This delightful video on YouTube, courtesy of NASA.

Described thus:

The Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) mission will provide the first detailed exploration of Earth’s unique and elusive noctilucent or night shining clouds that are found literally on the “edge of space.” Located near the top of the Earth’s mesosphere (the region just above the stratosphere), very little is known about how these polar mesospheric clouds form or why they vary. They are being seen at lower latitudes than ever before and have been growing brighter and more frequent, leading some scientists to suggest that this recent increase may be the direct result of human-induced climate change. The mission is led by Dr. James Russell of the Center for Atmospheric Sciences at Hampton University.

By Paul Handover

(with thanks to the UK Flyer List for bringing this to my attention.)