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Skywarden,
Ursa Astronomical Association
Kopernikuksentie 1
00130 Helsinki
taivaanvahti(at)ursa.fi

Ursa Astronomical Association

Pearl clouds - 9.1.2020 at 14.10 - 9.1.2020 at 15.53 Oulu Observation number 87345

Visibility IV / V

Raija Ollikainen

Figure 2./14.10
Coming out of the market, I noticed one bright pearl streak in the direction of the sunset. I held on to the electric pole (wind 10 m / s) and tried to keep myself and my cell phone from swaying so that I could even get some pearl to succeed.

Figure 3./15.00
In my backyard, I marveled at a white cloud of clouds visible in the clear sky that didn’t move anywhere in the storm wind. Once inside, I went to the balcony, and the cloud had magnified and was visible there as well. In turn, I began to unpack my bags and trot on the balcony, literally staring at the sky, for that cloud suspected me.

Figure 4./15.34
At this point, I no longer imagined, but I saw them with certainty: there were delicate pearlescent colors in the cloud that intensified as the cloud expanded! At the same time, I started getting messages from my niece and her brother that there are pearl clouds in the sky (they got hooked on New Year’s Eve: D).

Figure 5./15.36
I photographed in turn, with a cell phone and a paperback, clouds that were expanding and whose color intensity was increasing all the time. I couldn’t believe what was happening before my eyes, and I was shaking with excitement and coldness.

Figures 6.-7./15.44
Small pearl clouds began to appear as a chain below the larger clouds, some of which remained invisible behind the trees. I couldn’t leave the balcony for anything though the freezing.

Pictures 8. and main picture / 15.53
The darker the afternoon sky darkened, the more beautiful and deeper the colors of the pearl clouds looked.

After a little four, there was nothing more to describe, there were no small, no-color spots in the sky. For a couple of hours, I sat and wondered at the pictures and sent them to anyone who might have figured out how insane a thing I had seen and photographed for the first time in my life.

At six, I dragged myself into the kitchen and noticed that milk and other foods had been waiting half past three in the kitchen to get in the fridge ...



More similar observations
Additional information
  • Havainto
    • Pearl clouds
  • Nacreous clouds
    • Pearl clouds of type II (ice) info

      Pearl clouds (Nacreous clouds) are clouds that occur in winter and are best seen at dusk in the morning and evening when the Sun is below the horizon.

      Although the name of pearl clouds refers to spectral colors, colored (type II) pearls are rare in Finland. We mainly see colorless, pale (type I) pearls. A striking feature related to pearl clouds in Finland is also the strong brown, which makes the landscape bathe in intense red or purple light.

      The Sky Watch has categories for type I and II nacreous clouds, as well as the brown subtype. This selection reports pearl clouds representing type II spectral colors.

      While ordinary clouds are located in the lowest layer of the atmosphere in the troposphere, nacreous clouds form in the stratosphere above this at a height of 15 to 25 km above the ground. They occur when the stratosphere is exceptionally cold, about -75 ...- 85 C.

      The particles that cause pearl clouds are either pure water ice (type II) or chemically different crystals, all of which contain nitric acid (type I) as an ingredient.

      Changes in stratospheric thermal conditions are quite sluggish, which is why pearl clouds are seen continuously for at least a few days unless the lower clouds obscure the view. Nacreous clouds can be extensive in their occurrence and can occur simultaneously throughout Finland. However, the focus of the performances is in Lapland.

      The appearance of nacreous clouds in the sky can be predicted by stratospheric temperature predictions. Pearl cloud observations made in Finland from 1996 to 2014 show that they had been seen from December to March. Most occurred in December-January, in March pearl clouds were reported in only one year.

      The particles responsible for the pearl clouds can also give rise to the Bishop ring. The Bishop’s ring may be a clear sign of nacreous clouds when the Sun is on the horizon. The pearl clouds themselves usually stand out when the Sun is on the horizon, but in this case they are usually very ghostly cloud fibers and easily go unnoticed.

      In the winter of 2012-2013, Finland experienced an exceptionally long 13-day pearl cloud streak. On the second to last day of the episode, rare spectral colors also appeared in the clouds. Photo by Matti Helin.

    • Nacreous clouds, type I (acid) info

      Nacreous clouds (mother-of-pearl clouds) are clouds that occur in winter and are best seen at dusk in the morning and evening when the Sun is below the horizon.

      Although the name of pearl clouds refers to spectral colors, colorless, pale nacreous clouds are mainly observed in Finland. A striking feature related to pearl clouds in Finland is also the strong brown, which makes the landscape bathe in intense red or purple light.

      The Sky Watch has categories for colorless elections (type I) and colored (type II) pearl clouds, as well as the brown subtype.

      This selection reports type I colorless pearl clouds. While ordinary clouds are located in the lowest layer of the atmosphere in the troposphere, pearls form in the stratosphere above this at a height of 15 to 25 km above the ground. They occur when the stratosphere is exceptionally cold, about -75 ...- 85 C. The particles that cause pearls are either pure water ice (type II) or chemically different crystals, all of which contain nitric acid (type I) as an ingredient.

      Changes in stratospheric thermal conditions are quite sluggish, which is why pearl clouds are seen continuously for at least a few days unless the lower clouds obscure the view. Nacreous clouds can be extensive in their occurrence and can occur simultaneously throughout Finland. However, the focus of the performances is in Lapland. The appearance of nacreous clouds in the sky can be predicted by stratospheric temperature predictions.

      Nacreous clouds observations made in Finland from 1996 to 2014 show that they had been seen from December to March. Most occurred in December-January, in March nacreous clouds were reported in only one year. The particles responsible for the pearl clouds can also give rise to the Bishop ring. The Bishop’s ring may be a clear sign of nacreous clouds when the Sun is on the horizon. The pearl clouds themselves usually stand out when the Sun is on the horizon, but in this case they are usually very ghostly cloud fibers and easily go unnoticed

      Type I nacreous clouds. Image by Panu Lahtinen.

      Noctilucent clouds like nacreous clouds of type I. Image by Mikko Peussa.

      Half an hour before sunset, wavy nacreous clouds. These nacreous clouds stood out exceptionally well from the daytime sky. Image by Marko Riikonen.

Comments: 2 pcs
Tero Sipinen - 16.1.2020 at 00.43 Report this

Mainio tarina! Sen kerran kun helmiäiset kun sattuu päälle, niin... Ja kaupastahan saa lisää maitoa, jos pääsee happanemaan vahtimisen tuoksinassa :)

Onnittelut bongauksesta!

Raija Ollikainen - 17.1.2020 at 22.01 Report this

Kiitos, Tero! Urhoollista, että jaksoit lukea sen. :)

Näiden kuvien seuraksi ei voinut olla kirjoittamatta pitkää, pseudotieteellistä havaintokertomusta. Kun havainto alkoi pikkuruisesta kirkkaasta, valkoisesta pilvenläntistä ja päättyi 1,5 tunnin palelemisen aikana tuollaisiin näkymiin, se oli Elämys. Ja niistä syntyy tarinoita.

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