Noctilucent clouds
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exchemist
Valued Senior Member
Why are they more common at times of low solar activity?
All I could find was that we can perhaps expect more of them with more methane emission, as the climate changes.
I noticed them just recently. They looked like snow clouds to me. We're near the shortest nights of the year so there's only a few hours of darkness.
sculptor
Valued Senior Member
During a solar minimum, noctilucent clouds tend to become more prevalent as this period favors the frosting of meteor smoke high above the Earth. Water molecules stick to specks of meteor smoke, gathering into icy clouds that glow electric blue when they are hit by high altitude sunlight. Extreme ultraviolet radiation (EUV) radiation can destroy those water molecules before they freeze. As a result, less EUV during solar minimum can result in more noctilucent clouds.
from
https://peratonweather.com/blog/202...-have-been-unusually-prevalent-in-recent-days
from
https://peratonweather.com/blog/202...-have-been-unusually-prevalent-in-recent-days
exchemist
Valued Senior Member
That's very interesting about meteor dust. I subsequently found the same thing referred to on the NASA site: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/aim/news/meteor-smoke.html
What I didn't find was an explanation of why you get more at a solar minimum - unless I missed it somehow.
sculptor
Valued Senior Member
yep
you missed it
it was in the quoted
"Extreme ultraviolet radiation (EUV) radiation can destroy those water molecules before they freeze. As a result, less EUV during solar minimum can result in more noctilucent clouds."
from that, it seems that the dust is still there
just no water
thereby no ice
thereby no ice clouds
..........................
I recently saw a joke about Ikea water
guy opens the package
and finds
2 canisters of H
and
1 canister of O