• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Jennifer Marohasy

Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

  • Home
  • About
  • Publications
  • Speaker
  • Blog
  • Temperatures
  • Coral Reefs
  • Contact
  • Subscribe

Clouds at the Edge of Space

August 27, 2008 By jennifer

Two years after the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa, the Indonesian supervolcano, Robert Leslie published a note in the journal Nature describing wispy blue filaments in the night sky. He is now credited with the discovery of noctilucent clouds (NLCs).

clouds in space_iss017e011632 blog.jpg
Photograph from the International Space Station, positioned 340 km over western Mongolia on July 22, 2008. Clouds estimated to be 83km above earth (at the edge of space). Credit to NASA at http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/25aug_nlc.htm

According to Gary Thomas, atmospheric scientists at the University of Colorado, the clouds are thought to be spreading and their first sightings coincide with the Industrial Revolution.

————–
Thanks to Willem for the link.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Climate & Climate Change

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Steve Short says

    August 27, 2008 at 11:01 am

    Lovely word ‘noctilucent’

    Equally fascinating are the noctilucent zones in the oceans seen by ships and photographed by orbiting satellites.

    http://www.pnas.org/content/102/40/14181.full.pdf

    http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1448986

  2. Beano says

    August 27, 2008 at 2:45 pm

    Noctilucent clouds – first sightings coincide with the Industrial Revolution…..hmmm

    Bit skeptical here. Elves and sprites were only noticed first by aircraft pilots at high altitude. Their initial sighting reports of these phenomena were pooh poohed by “scientists”. Up until recently these were not understood, even now a lot to learn about them.

  3. Neil Ayrey says

    August 27, 2008 at 7:45 pm

    I think these are similar to the polar stratospheric clouds also known in Scandanavia a “Perlan clouds”

    http://www.smh.com.au/news/science/extreme-weather-makes-rare-cloud/2006/08/01/1154198117951.html

    Neil

  4. Gary Gulrud says

    August 28, 2008 at 5:36 am

    Watts also has a post up with a reader supplied ppt that graphs recent changes in noctilucent cloud frequencies.

    The graphs are, to my eye, perfect inverses of the solar sunspot cycles, or negatively correlated with solar activity, as far as sunspots are a proxy of that activity.

    Watts conjectured that there is a geomagnetic connection with GCRs and the solar wind via their nucleation of these ice clouds.

    As the geomagnetic field has been declining by 0.5% per decade since the clouds were discovered, he may be onto something. At solar minimum, the magnetopause collapses and the solar wind, though diminished in pressure and velocity can have free as well as freer entry.

    Accuweather’s GW blog reported on a paper estimating a 2-3 degree C Arctic temperature anomaly this summer, due to this effect.

  5. Steve Stip says

    August 28, 2008 at 1:15 pm

    From the stark black of space
    through wrenching shades of blue
    and onto the ground
    through sad shades of brown.

Primary Sidebar

Latest

How Climate Works: Upwellings in the Eastern Pacific and Natural Ocean Warming

May 4, 2025

How Climate Works. Part 5, Freeze with Alex Pope

April 30, 2025

Oceans Giving Back a Little C02. The Good News from Bud Bromley’s Zoom Webinar on ANZAC Day

April 27, 2025

The Electric Car Rort

April 25, 2025

Be Part of the Climate Resilience Conversation – Last Chance to Register

April 23, 2025

Recent Comments

  • ironicman on How Climate Works: Upwellings in the Eastern Pacific and Natural Ocean Warming
  • ironicman on How Climate Works: Upwellings in the Eastern Pacific and Natural Ocean Warming
  • Ferdinand Engelbeen on Oceans Giving Back a Little C02. The Good News from Bud Bromley’s Zoom Webinar on ANZAC Day
  • Noel Reid on Oceans Giving Back a Little C02. The Good News from Bud Bromley’s Zoom Webinar on ANZAC Day
  • ironicman on How Climate Works: Upwellings in the Eastern Pacific and Natural Ocean Warming

Subscribe For News Updates

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

PayPal

August 2008
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
« Jul   Sep »

Archives

Footer

About Me

Jennifer Marohasy Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method. Read more

Subscribe For News Updates

Subscribe Me

PayPal

Contact Me

To get in touch with Jennifer call 0418873222 or international call +61418873222.

Email: J.Marohasy@climatelab.com.au

Connect With Me

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2025 · Genesis - Jen Marohasy Custom On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in