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Taken from Ecclefechan, Dumfries & Galloway, Scotland.
Nacreous are one of the most beautiful of all cloud formations, but they are also the most destructive to our atmosphere. Their presence encourages the chemical reactions that break down the ozone layer, which acts as an essential shield protecting us from the most harmful of the sun's rays.
Also known as "mother-of-pearl clouds", nacreous clouds exhibit spectacular iridescent pastel colours, caused by the sunlight diffracting as it passes around their tiny ice crystals.
Since they form much higher than common clouds - at altitudes of between 12 and 15 miles - nacreous clouds are most apparent around sunrise and sunset when their colours stand out against the darkened sky. The stratosphere is extremely dry, compared with the cloud-filled lower atmosphere, so the air needs to be very cold indeed for any ice crystals to be able to form there.
Nacreous clouds only appear when stratospheric temperatures are below -83C.
More photos taken during our first morning in this area at an altitude of between 900 m and 990 m.
Several different clouded yellow species were seen on the trip. I can not differentiate them but this is my only photo to be uploaded of this species. It was very cooperative unlike most of the clouded yellow seen on the trip.
Storm clouds appeared at dusk, though the worst of the storms didn't arrive until early the following morning. A massive change in the weather, from 30C down to about 18C, & my parched garden has had rain on it at last.
This shot was taken a long time after the sun had set. The tops of the clouds must still have been hit by the setting sun creating the pink colors. This shot is looking east. There was a lot of lightning and I was trying to get it in a shot, but no luck there.
Found this hiding on my computer!
Better viewed large! View On Black
Explore #251 on Thursday, November 13, 2008
Some folks are finding this pic via /Interesting/Explore... mystery!
The rainbow effect was much stronger live - but you can see a bit. Another unusual cloud formation, this time captured in Portland on the way home from Lake Oswego after work. At first, I thought I was my location that was creating the rainbow, but as I kept driving it was apparent that it was all about sun angle with this seemingly flat, high cloud. I've seen some great clouds, sunsets, and sunrises since I moved to Portland - it's great having weather again after so many years in SoCal.