"Once seen they are never forgotten," says atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley. Then, and only then, can sparse water molecules in the stratosphere begin to coalesce into tiny ice crystals - the "stuff" of PSCs.īecause of their intense iridescent colors, PSCs are widely regarded as the most beautiful clouds on Earth. PSCs form when the temperature drops to a staggeringly-low -85 C. Normally the stratosphere has no clouds at all. These are called "polar stratospheric clouds" (PSCs), and they are very rare. 14th, 15th and 16th," reports Laura Kranich, who photographed the colorful forms over Örnskjöldsvik, Sweden: POLAR STRATOSPHERIC CLOUDS (UPDATED): Earth's most beautiful clouds just materialized inside the Arctic Circle. The likely source, sunspot complex AR2907-09, is almost directly facing Earth, which means any explosions would be geoeffective. Neutron counts from the University of Oulu's Sodankyla Geophysical Observatory show that cosmic rays reaching Earth are slowly declining-a result of the yin-yang relationship between the solar cycle and cosmic rays.ĬHANCE OF FLARES TODAY: NOAA forecasters say there is a 25% chance of M-class solar flares today. Credit: SDO/HMIĬosmic Rays Solar Cycle 25 is beginning, and this is reflected in the number of cosmic rays entering Earth's atmosphere. Sunspots AR2907 and AR2908 have 'beta-gamma' magnetic fields that harbor energy for M-class solar flares.
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