Scientists recently discovered that polar stratospheric clouds, long known to play an important role in Antarctic ozone destruction, are occurring with increasing frequency in the Arctic. [1] These clouds usually form at steep altitudes ranging from fifteen to twenty-five kilometers above sea level. This can be translated as fifty thousand to about eighty thousand feet in height. Polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs), also known as nacreous clouds from nacre, or mother of pearl, due to their iridescence, are clouds in the winter polar stratosphere. Therefore, polar stratospheric clouds are found in the winter Arctic of the stratosphere. Background These clouds exist at very high altitude (~70,000 ft) within Earth's stratosphere. Polar Stratospheric Clouds. Polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) are clouds in the winter polar stratosphere at altitudes of 15,000–25,000 m (49,000–82,000 ft). There are two distinct types of Polar Stratospheric Clouds: Type I clouds are composed of nitric acid and water (and sometimes … Upon the return of sunlight to the polar caps in spring, chlorine takes … They are often found downwind of mountain ranges, which can induce gravity waves in the lower stratosphere. The temperature must be around -78° C (-108° F) for PSCs to form, so these clouds only occur in winter near the North and South Poles. Polar stratospheric cloud definition, an iridescent cloud in the winter polar stratosphere, as high as 15.5 miles (25 kilometers) above the earth: in both the Antarctic and the Arctic, these clouds contribute to ozone depletion by converting benign forms of chlorine into ozone-destroying forms and by eliminating the nitrogen compounds that curb the destructive effects of chlorine. These high altitude clouds form only at very low temperatures help destroy ozone in two ways: They provide a surface which converts benign forms of chlorine into reactive, ozone … They are best observed during civil twilight , when the Sun is between 1 and 6 degrees below the horizon, as well as in winter and in more northerly latitudes. Clouds do not normally form in the stratosphere due to its extreme dryness. Stratospheric temperatures below about 195 K at 20 km are required for the formation of polar stratospheric clouds. Tropical Cyclones. Polar stratospheric cloud particles form the surfaces for reactions that activate chlorine. Polar Stratospheric Clouds. PSCs are wave clouds. Last week and over the weekend – as the year shifted to 2017 – we began receiving photos of vividly colored ice clouds called polar stratospheric clouds, or sometimes nacreous clouds… One explanation for the decrease in the equator to pole temperature difference (EPTD) during equable climates examines the influence of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) on longwave radiation leaving the Earth in the high-latitudes and, as a result,on temperatures near the poles. During winter at high latitudes, however, stratospheric temperature sometimes becomes low enough to promote In contrast to theories explaining ways of transporting moreheat to the …
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