Noctilucent Clouds Spread and Mystify

Wired has a feature on noctilucent clouds, once seen only at high latitudes but increasingly visible now lower down the globe. The clouds result from ice crystals at altitudes of 50 miles, higher than five 9s of the atmosphere. What water ice is doing up there, in a region 100 million times drier than the Sahara desert, is only one of the mysteries associated with the clouds. They are a recent phenomenon: the first scientific description of noctilucent clouds was penned in 1885. For a time it was believed that the clouds were an effect resulting from the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano two years before. Since 2002, the clouds have been sighted — and photographed — as far south as Oregon, Colorado, and Utah. Some scientists believe that human-caused climate change is playing a role, but others doubt this. Two satellites are in orbit to study the clouds; NASA's AIM generated this day-by-day movie of clouds in the vicinity of the North Pole during 2008.

Comments

Re:The article presumes manmade global warming

[techno-vampire]

Or if it stops being true.

The hoax I was referring to wasn't the claim that it's getting warmer, it's that the change is man made. Yes, the climate is changing, but so what? It's always changing. 200 years ago, it was much cooler; 1000 years ago it was somewhat warmer than it is now. It may have been about this warm between about 200 BCE and 100 CE, fueling the rise of the Roman Empire (A warmer climate brings bigger harvests, providing more food to feed the legions.) and then gotten cooler again, causing its decline. I doubt even the most fanatic AGW evangelist would claim those changes were mostly man-made, and I don't personally believe that what's happening now is, either. However, as long as there's a way to extract money from people by preaching AGW, there will be people doing it, and the moment it stops bringing in cash is when they'll stop.

Re:Just a wee bit sad.

[budgenator]

I'm just glad you weren't among the 100,105,780 people who have died from Malaria since since Carson's book was published and DDT was virtually banned and declaired a âoepotential human carcinogenâ without evidence by William Ruckelshaus

Re:Count On It

[refactored]

Not nearly as idiotic as those who, not matter what humans do... say it isn't our fault, there is no warming, no pollution, no impact, nothing down here in the sand with our heads.

Re:Or maybe, since temps have flatlined since '99,

[Troed]

Try that again, now with real data instead of Hansen's pet project (closed source, closed algorithm) temperature data modifications.

I'd suggest using UAH. Surface stations are a joke due to no one (until now) checking their surroundings and thus the induced UHI effect.

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/07/03/uah-global-temperature-anomaly-for-june-09-zero/