Thursday, 10 February 2022

That's a High Cloud

It's always nice to get a fuller explanation of a personally viewed phenomenon. The picture above is a cloud photographed in the early morning of January 2022 from a Hastings beach. The image appears to be that of a nacreous cloud (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/10/weatherwatch-how-colourful-nacreous-clouds-are-formed). Nacreous clouds, also known as 'mother-of-pearl' or 'polar stratospheric' clouds, are formed high in the stratosphere (about 15-25 km above the surface of the land). In that elevated location, the air is very dry and the temperature hovers around -78 degrees Centigrade. Tiny ice crystals are formed which generate the colours. Most clouds, in contrast, are formed much lower down in the troposphere.
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