Shuttle Launches Form Arctic Clouds

core plexus writes "The Anchorage Daily News is reporting that in late May, researchers reported finding that the shuttle's exhaust, 97 percent of which is water vapor, quickly migrates to the highest reaches of the atmosphere above the Arctic. There the vapor spreads out about 50 miles high in Earth's mesosphere, just below the thermosphere, the air's highest layer, and settles to form a wispy type of cloud called noctilucent clouds. The shuttle trails a giant plume of exhaust while rising through the atmosphere, Mike Stevens, the study's lead author, said earlier this summer on Arctic Science Journeys Radio at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. "You can think of it as essentially a long garden hose that is on the order of (621 miles) long," Stevens said."

Comments

what about other spacecraft?

[LeninZhiv]

So does anyone know why the shuttle launches do this but not the Russian or ESA rockets?

Re:what about other spacecraft?

[Skyfire]

So does anyone know why the shuttle launches do this but not the Russian or ESA rockets?

I am neither a rocket scientist nor a metereologist, but my best guess would be that it has to do with the space shuttle rockets (not the boosters, but the main thrusters on the space shuttle) being powered by Oxygen and Hydrogen which creates a lot of hot water when it fires.

Re:What am I to say?

[Zarf]

Heh. Maybe this means that the new Earth Paradigm will feature a lack of Ozone.

After reading your link it looks like the Ozone depleating reactions are believed to occur on the surface of polar stratospheric clouds. Even if the Shuttle only produces stratospheric water vapor it is evectively increasing the surface area on which the Ozone depleating chemical reactions can occur.

So I was about to foolishly point out that the shuttle clouds are only water vapor. But, that's enough to potentially contribute to Ozone loss even if there's no Chlorine and Bromine pollution. Amazing, something as harmless as water can result in toxic consequences when it's in the wrong place. That's astounding, you'd expect water vapor to be utterly harmless in all situations...

On noctilucents

[Caid Raspa]

These are really beautiful clouds, I have seen them almost every summer since 1980:s.

Note the photographer of the last link. Some more of his pictures can be seen at www.polarimage.fi They are really cool.

Almost every Russian rocket launch from a base near the Finnish border is seen also as really beutiful clouds, similar to nocitlucents at least in appearance. The rockets are a lot smaller.

Some of my older relatives have seen noctilucents also in the 1930:s, so they are not always related to the shuttle or rockets.

One downside is that noctilucents appear in conditions favourable to ozone depletion.

Re:On noctilucents

[Tablizer]

These are really beautiful clouds

I have seen the cloud trails of some military launches near S. California coast (don't know if they are orbital or not), but when the sun is setting, it shines on them brightly because they are so high while the rest of the astmosphere is almost dark because it is lower, in the shadow of earth's limb already. Thus, these trails stand out as if they are glowing. They make a very erie looking milky rainbow-colored cloud that lasts about 1/2 an hour or more.

Hope the ozone needed watering...

[quinkin]

Hope the ozone needed watering was my first thought when reading the article.

Pretty... but is it pretty like a shark?

Mind you, water vapour is not the worst exhaust fume around.

Q.

You learn something every day

[Tau Zero]

Amazing, something as harmless as water can result in toxic consequences when it's in the wrong place. That's astounding, you'd expect water vapor to be utterly harmless in all situations...

Not too surprising when you realize that Earth's atmosphere has a "cold trap" which normally keeps water vapor from getting up there in high quantities, and the rest of Earth's systems have developed under the consequences of this phenomenon.

But it shouldn't have been such a surprise; oxygen is ubiquitous (essential) in human experience, yet there are a lot of processes in nature which require a hypoxic or anoxic environment. Add oxygen, and they are greatly disturbed.

Others worry about water vapor, too.

[Snags]

There was a recent article in Science magazine talking about the effects of hydrogen on the stratosphere. For their purposes, the source of hydrogen and/or water would be waste from hydrogen fuel cells and leakage from hydrogen transport systems. Both noctilucent clouds and ozone depletion are mentioned in the abstract.

But if somebody is concerned about the emissions from a few Space Shuttle launches, imagine what cities full of hydrogen-powered cars would do.