NASA Balloon Sees Rare Electric Blue Clouds

259 views · Published 21 September 2018 · 1:58 · Indexed 26 September 2026

Channel: CoconutScienceLab · 2018 · Science & Technology

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More space news and info at: http://www.coconutsciencelab.com - on the cusp of our atmosphere live a thin group of seasonal electric blue clouds. Forming fifty miles above the poles in summer, these clouds are known as noctilucent clouds or polar mesospheric clouds — PMCs. 

A recent NASA long-duration balloon mission observed these clouds over the course of five days at their home in the mesosphere. The resulting photos, which scientists have just begun to analyze, will help us better understand turbulence in the atmosphere, as well as in oceans, lakes, and other planetary atmospheres, and may even improve weather forecasting. 

Music credit: “In The End” By Andrew John Skeet [PRS], Andrew Michael Britton [PRS], David Stephen Goldsmith [PRS] from Killer Tracks 

Credits: David Fritts (GATS): Scientist Joy Ng (USRA): Producer Mara Johnson-Groh (Wyle Information Systems): Writer Tom Bridgman (GST): Data Visualizer William Putman (NASA/GSFC): Data Visualizer

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