[HN Gopher] Electric Clouds This Summer
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Electric Clouds This Summer
Author : yimby
Score : 32 points
Date : 2024-07-16 18:04 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (nautil.us)
(TXT) w3m dump (nautil.us)
| chrisweekly wrote:
| Ooh, gorgeous photos and a reasonably scientific description of
| the phenomenon. Recommended!
| imp0cat wrote:
| Yeah, there seems to be a lot of noctilucent clouds this year.
| UmYeahNo wrote:
| I have more questions than answers after reading this.
|
| "They're lit by a twilight sun catching on ice crystals and
| seeded by rocket exhaust and space dust." and
|
| "Exhaust from rockets, which have been launching in growing
| numbers lately, can also seed the clouds, as the AIM satellite
| research showed."
|
| ...are a pretty startling notion.
|
| Should we expect, then, that this phenomena will be constant /
| worsening moving forward as the proliferation of rocket launches
| increases thereby pumping more water / alumina / particulates
| into the very upper atmosphere?
|
| I'm not an alarmist normally, but taken further, then is it too
| hyperbolic to say that SpaceX and its high-frequency launch
| competitors are already changing the global weather within just a
| few years of ramping up operations?
|
| Can we say with certainty that the occurrence of these clouds is
| not an harbinger / indicator of future weather changes? Like,
| does having more ultra-high altitude clouds increase or decrease
| greenhouse effects, for example?
| bongodongobob wrote:
| I have a feeling it's a drop in the bucket and airplanes and
| cars have far greater impact on anything climate related.
| UmYeahNo wrote:
| I might have thought that too, however the article
| specifically called out rockets as a cause. So, if rockets
| are contributing a significantly more particulates such that
| it causes a phenomenon of more cloud cover at lower
| latitudes, is that a cause for concern? I don't know either
| way -- I was asking what we might think it meant.
| bongodongobob wrote:
| I didn't get the impression that rockets were a significant
| cause. For example, they mention a volcano eruption which
| would dwarf rocket launches.
| arjvik wrote:
| Why is this considered "worsening"? Seems like a harmless
| phenomenon (even though it does indicate climate change's
| progression) that actually looks quite beautiful!
| UmYeahNo wrote:
| I meant worsening from the perspective of becoming more and
| more over time, not necessarily making things "worse". a bad
| turn of phrase on my part.
|
| If there is a constant cloud cover that only becomes thicker
| / more constant over time at very high altitude I wonder if
| there will be detrimental effects. That was my question. What
| does it mean if these clouds are constant?
| ofalkaed wrote:
| If memory serves water vapor in the mesosphere is broken down
| by UV fairly readily and migrates into the thermosphere. I
| think the stratosphere would be in dire shape by the time the
| mesosphere had any real effect and would be the least of our
| worries. But I am going off of old memories from school days
| and am far from an expert.
| temp0826 wrote:
| NASA had a mission called AIM (Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere)
| that observed noctilucent clouds, but it looks like the satellite
| stopped sending data in March of last year?
|
| https://aim.hamptonu.edu/
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(page generated 2024-07-16 23:00 UTC)