Via NASA: extra water vapor in the mesosphere is creating more glowing nighttime clouds
This summer, something strange has been happening in the mesosphere. The mesosphere is a layer of the atmosphere so high that it almost touches space.
In the rarefied air 83 km above Earth’s surface, summertime wisps of water vapor wrap themselves around specks of meteor smoke. The resulting swarms of ice crystals form noctilucent clouds (NLCs), which can be seen glowing in the night sky at high latitudes.
And, no, that’s not the strange thing.
Northern sky watchers have grown accustomed to seeing these clouds in recent years. They form in May, intensify in June, and ultimately fade in July and August. This year, however, something different happened. Instead of fading in late July, the clouds exploded with unusual luminosity. Kairo Kiitsak observed this outburst on July 26th from Simuna, Estonia:
“It was a mind-blowing display,” says Kiitsak. “The clouds were visible for much of the night, rippling brightly for at least 3 hours.”
Other observers saw similar displays in July and then, in August, the clouds persisted. During the first half of August 2018, reports of NLCs to Spaceweather.com have tripled compared to the same period in 2017. The clouds refuse to go away.
Researchers at the University of Colorado may have figured out why. “There has been an unexpected surge of water vapor in the mesosphere,” says Lynn Harvey of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP). This plot, which Harvey prepared using data from NASA’s satellite-based Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) instrument, shows that the days of late July and August 2018 have been the wettest in the mesosphere for the past 11 years:
“July went out like a lion!” says Harvey.
In addition to being extra wet, the mesosphere has also been a bit colder than usual, according to MLS data. The combination of wet and cold has created favorable conditions for icy noctilucent clouds.
Harvey and her colleagues are still working to understand how the extra water got up there. One possibility involves planetary wave activity in the southern hemisphere which can, ironically, boost the upwelling of water vapor tens of thousands of miles away in the north. The phenomenon could also be linked to solar minimum, now underway. It is notable that the coldest and wettest years in the mesosphere prior to 2018 were 2008-2009–the previous minimum of the 11-year solar cycle.
Source: NASA Spaceweather
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Powerful electromagnetic waves for active environmental research in geospace
T. B. Leyser A. Y. Wong
First published: 15 January 2009 https://doi.org/10.1029/2007RG000235 Cited by: 12
8.4. Effects of Broadcast Transmitters
[70] Broadcast transmitters continuously heat the overhead ionosphere and modulate ionospheric currents. The first report of such anthropogenic effects was the Luxembourg effect (section 1) explained by the fact that the powerful wave is absorbed in the lower ionosphere, which heats the electron gas and hence increases the electron collision frequency [Bailey and Martyn, 1934]. When a different weaker wave then propagates through the heated region, the modulated collision frequency modulates the damping of the wave, so that the modulation on the powerful wave is transferred to the weaker wave. In addition to simply modulating the electron temperature in the quiet ionosphere, broadcast transmitters also modulate the auroral electrojet current. Such a modulated current then acts as a giant antenna that emits the demodulated signals [Turunen et al., 1980; Cannon, 1982]. ELF/VLF signals in the form of time pips at 1 kHz and snatches of music broadcasts were recorded in northern Scandinavia that had been produced by waves from powerful Russian LF and MF transmitters heating the lower ionosphere and thereby being demodulated.
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2007RG000235
Inverse square law is applicable to radio waves emanating from antennas. The energy intercepted by these atmospheric layers therefore will be *much* weaker at distance from the transmitting site than that experienced a few miles from such sites.Physics on this level is still applicable.
The atmosphere is pretty much transparent to the frequencies used by these transmitters.
Troposphere, yes. Ionosphere, no.
Earth is a beautiful place. Clouds are probably one of the most overlooked aspects of earth’s many phenomenons. And the best part is the ever changing dynamics and energy levels contained within. Clouds can be eye candy or terror, kind of simple or awe inspiring, non-visible allowing you to burn and then flood you a couple of hours later, sprinkle life giving water across the land or dump five feet of snow and ice, shade you from the hot sun or blow your house away, provide pretty lightening flashes in the night time sky or fry you on your feet in a single moment, etc. They come in many different flavors from white to black, red, yellow, orange, blue or even rainbows. They can be flat or bumpy, rolling up or across, offer distant vista views or make it hard to see the ground in front of you. Clouds are really neat!
The technological age we live in allows pictures and views to be shared of their many forms from across the entire world! Sites like WUWT bring these to our attention and give insight to their complexity and try to explain it to those of us curious enough to want to know. The atmosphere without clouds would be a pretty boring place.
And the best part comes when you try to understand them! And even better is if or when you do!
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=noctilucent+clouds&qpvt=noctilucent+clouds&FORM=IARRSM
I should also note that the mother of all clouds is water! And the father’s contribution would likely be combustion. Hell, you could write a really big book about clouds.
eyesonu:
Yes. I am currently having a go at a book on clouds. The main problem I have is how to make it interesting for the average guy without glazing his/her eyes over with the technical bits, which for me are the source of great fascinating. Am now on my Mark 4 effort, with loads of scrap digits cluttering up my computer.
As a result I have concluded (to my satisfaction!) that so long as my kettle in the kitchen boils at 100C and stays at that; there is no possibility of a “Hothouse Earth”, in the absence of a major distaster leading to a change in gravity or the sun’s current behaviour etc. The Atmospheric Rankine Cycle explains that
The other thing is my observation that sea surface temperatures (SST) never seem to go much above 30C except in some specific areas. So far the explanation for this escapes me; but I am sure it has something to do with the rather odd thermodynamic behaviour of water indicated by the clouds.
Any ideas, anyone?
Alastair
Willis E Produced some very interesting charts and observations on WUWT not too long ago regarding water vapor release temps. Do a search. His charts would look great in your book.
Regards
Factors governing the strength and frequency of stratospheric ozone intrusions over the Pacific‐North American region are considered for their role in modulating tropospheric ozone on interannual timescales. The strength of the association between two major modes of climate variability—the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Northern Annular Mode (NAM)—and the amount of ozone contained in stratospheric intrusions are tested in the context of two mechanisms that modulate stratosphere‐to‐troposphere transport (STT) of ozone: (StratVarO3) the winter season buildup of ozone abundances in the lowermost stratosphere (LMS) and (JetVar) Pacific jet and wave breaking variability during spring. In essence, StratVarO3 corresponds to variability in the amount of ozone per intrusion, while JetVar governs the frequency of intrusions. The resulting analysis, based on two different reanalysis products, suggests that StratVarO3 is more important than JetVar for driving interannual variations in STT of ozone over the Pacific‐North American region. In particular, the abundance of ozone in the LMS at the end of winter is shown to be a robust indicator of the amount of ozone that will be contained in stratospheric intrusions during the ensuing spring. Additionally, it is shown that the overall strength of the winter season stratospheric NAM is a useful predictor of ozone intrusion strength. The results also suggest a nuanced relationship between the phase of ENSO and STT of ozone. While ENSO‐related jet variability is associated with STT variability, it is wave breaking frequency rather than typical ENSO teleconnection patterns that is responsible for the ENSO‐STT relationship.
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/2017JD026890
Here is a pedant in full flight, re Anthony’s comment “The mesosphere is a layer of the atmosphere so high that it almost touches space”
Logically, everything almost touches space. If it touched space, it would no longer be space.
Cheers Anthony Geoff.
man that is a beautiful sight. sadly not seeing much here in maine, sunsets been pretty good but nothing light that.
Could that extra water vapor have an impact on climate?
Cosmic ray activity has been increasing due to the weakened solar wind. Coincidence? https://spaceweatherarchive.com/2018/03/05/the-worsening-cosmic-ray-situation/
Or it could have a very simple explanation. This summer has been exceptionally warm and dry in northern Europe. Skies have been exceptionally clear (normally July and August are the wettest months). A completely clear night sky like in the photo from Estonia is normally decidedly uncommon at this time of year.
So noctilucent clouds have been unusually easy to see this year.
Ya mighta just nailed it ??
The western United States have lately had an exceptional number of forest fires by recent standards, the main products of which are hot and heavy CO2 and hot and light H2O. Some of that water vapor might find its way to the mesosphere. –AGF
Well it had to happen. The answer was Climate Change all along. I can’t believe I didn’t realise this immediately. Thank goodness Federal appropriations are being put to good use . https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/climate-change-responsible-these-rare-high-latitude-clouds-180969712/