A new NASA satellite has recorded the first detailed images from space of a mysterious type of cloud called “night-shining” or “noctilucent."

The clouds are on the move, brightening and creeping out of polar regions, and researchers don't know why.

Originally posted by theindependentjournal
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Strange Clouds

"Noctilucent clouds are a relatively new phenomenon," says Gary Thomas, a professor at the University of Colorado who studies NLCs. "They were first seen in 1885" about two years after the powerful eruption of Krakatoa hurled plumes of volcanic ash as much as 80 km high in Earth's atmosphere.

Ash from the Indonesian volcano caused such splendid sunsets worldwide that evening sky watching became a popular past time. One sky watcher in particular, a German named T.W. Backhouse who is often credited with the discovery of noctilucent clouds, noticed something odd. He stayed outside after the sun had set and, on some nights, saw wispy filaments glowing electric blue against the black sky. Scientists of the day figured they were some curious manifestation of volcanic ash.

Eventually the ash settled and the vivid sunsets of Krakatoa faded. Yet the noctilucent clouds remained. "It's puzzling," says Thomas. "Noctilucent clouds have not only persisted, but also spread." A century ago the clouds were confined to latitudes above 50o; you had to go to places like Scandinavia, Russia and Britain to see them. In recent years they have been sighted as far south as Utah and Colorado.

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One reason for the recent spread of noctilucent clouds might be global warming. "Extreme cold is required to form ice in a dry environment like the mesosphere," says Thomas. Ironically, global warming helps. While greenhouse gases warm Earth's surface, they actually lower temperatures in the high atmosphere. Thomas notes that noctilucent clouds were first spotted during the Industrial Revolution--a time of rising greenhouse gas production.

Mars Clouds Higher Than Any On Earth

Mars is home to the highest clouds ever discovered above the surface of a planet, astronomers said today.

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The surprising clouds are most likely made of carbon dioxide, researchers said. There were detected with a camera that senses ultraviolet and infrared light, so there is no conventional picture of them.

...they look similar to the mesospheric clouds, also known as noctilucent clouds on Earth, which occur about 50 miles (80 kilometers) above our planet.

The UARS HALOE experiment has provided nearly 12 years (1991-2003) of retrieved temperature versus pressure profiles T(p) from about 5 hPa to just above 0.01 hPa. By applying multiple linear regression (MLR) analysis techniques to its zonally-averaged, temperature time series at specific pressure levels and latitudes, we are finding significant interannual (IA) and solar cycle (SC) terms in the presence of larger-amplitude, seasonal cycle terms. In addition, we note that the search for a cooling trend depends critically on a proper accounting for the weaker amplitude IA and SC terms. After these weaker terms have been considered, we have occasionally found a significant cooling trend of about 0.9 to 1.4 K per decade in the low to middle mesosphere-most notably at 20S latitude.

Link.

Radiative models of the middle atmosphere
indicate that the largest temperature response
due to steadily increasing amounts of
atmospheric CO2 should occur at pressurealtitudes
between 1 and 0.1 hPa (about 48 to 64
km) and be of the order of –0.5 to –0.6 K/decade
on a pressure surface (e.g., Akmaev and
Fomichev, 2000)...

Based on our findings to date, it is concluded
that a significant cooling trend due to increasing
greenhouse gases is being found in the lower
and middle mesosphere, as predicted...

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