(ORDO NEWS) — On November 22, the inhabitants of Russia noticed a strange phenomenon – bright silvery clouds. The observers were shocked. They decided that something terrible was happening in the atmosphere, since anomalous clouds had appeared.
The first photo reports of the observation came from Cheboksary. The picture shows the horizon gleaming with an ominous pearl light at 06:20. Then materials came from Kaliningrad. It became clear to people that the phenomenon is massive and is visible only where there is a clear sky.
The nature of noctilucent clouds is such that they appear in June and repeat until the end of July. Some people saw the phenomenon in mid-August, but never at the end of November. Clouds appear at an altitude of up to one hundred kilometers and are ice crystals on which sunlight falls. This is how the glow is explained. At such a high altitude, the Sun shines even when it is night on Earth.
The water envelops the dust in the air and then freezes. Often, instead of dust, small meteorites fall, which do not burn in the atmosphere due to their small size. The bodies seem to float in the air, gradually sinking down.
For the appearance of noctilucent clouds, three conditions are needed: low temperatures (in summer there are air currents of icy air from the Arctic), the presence of dust or small particles, and sunlight. In winter, the formation of phenomena is impossible, in the off-season it is very rare.
It is interesting that in antiquity there were no noctilucent clouds: they began to appear only in the 19th century. What changes in the atmosphere is associated with their appearance is a mystery.
This summer, clouds were observed over Russia almost every night, although they usually glowed once a week. The November phenomenon is associated with the depletion of the ozone layer due to anthropogenic human activities. The thick layer absorbs all ultraviolet light, preventing the ice crystals from glowing. Carbon dioxide, in turn, radiates heat received from the Earth into space (at an altitude of 100 km, there is nothing to transfer heat, and gas does not tend to retain it). This is how the upper atmosphere is cooled.
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