Strange Skies
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Cloud Grey

Strange 'spherical' cloud photographed over Fujisawa, Japan


Science Alert
Mon, 12 Dec 2016 13:46 UTC
The cloud reportedly appeared above a train station in Japan
The cloud reportedly appeared above a train station in Japan
Bizarre pictures coming out of Japan last week show what appears to be an oddly spherical cloud hovering over the city of Fujisawa, just south of Tokyo.

According to reports from the photographer, the cloud started to lose its shape as soon as it was photographed, and then rapidly faded into the sky as if it never existed.

"When I looked out of the car window I saw a round ball-shaped cloud. I gazed at the cloud for a while then I rushed to take the photo," Twitter user @pmxpvrtmx (Poppy) told local Japanese news outlet, Rocket News 24.

"When I saw the cloud it was an even more spherical shape, so I regret not taking the photo more quickly."
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Info

Hot hydrogen atoms in upper layer of Earth's atmosphere discovered by researchers


News Nation Bureau
Fri, 09 Dec 2016 17:03 UTC
Earth's Atmosphere
© News NationHot hydrogen atoms found in Earth's atmosphere.
Washington: Hot hydrogen atoms exist in thermosphere, the upper layer of the atmosphere of the Earth, scientists have discovered. According to researchers, this discovery changes the current understanding of the distribution of the hydrogen (H) as well as its interaction with other atmospheric constituents.

The H atoms are easily able to overcome the gravitational force of a planet and manage to permanently escape into interplanetary space due to their light weight.

Researchers said that Mars has lots the majority of its water because of the ongoing escape of the H atoms.

H atoms play a crucial role in the physics that govern the upper atmosphere of the Earth. They also act as an important shield for technological assets of the societies, such as the numerous satellites in low earth orbit, against the harsh space environment.

"Hot H atoms had been theorised to exist at very high altitudes, above several thousand kilometres, but our discovery that they exist as low as 250 kilometres was truly surprising," said Lara Waldrop, Assistant Professor from University of Illinois' Coordinated Science Laboratory in the US.

"This result suggests that current atmospheric models are missing some key physics that impacts many different studies, ranging from atmospheric escape to the thermal structure of the upper atmosphere," said Waldrop.
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Sun

Video footage captures triple sun dogs over St. Petersburg, Russia

Libby Plummer
Daily Mail, UK
Tue, 06 Dec 2016 06:08 UTC
Triple sun dog in St. Petersburg
Incredible footage and images show three suns appearing in the sky over Russia.

People in the country's second city of St Petersburg were left stunned by the unusual sight.

The triple sun scene was the result of a rare natural phenomenon.

Maria Borukha, head of popular science at the Petersburg Planetarium and a current PhD student in celestial mechanics at St Petersburg State University, said the false suns were known as 'sun dogs'.

She explained that they were an atmospheric phenomenon consisting of a pair of bright spots appearing on either side of the Sun.

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Cloud Grey

Strange, electric blue clouds have appeared over Antarctica way earlier than expected

Bec Crew
Science Alert
Mon, 05 Dec 2016 16:39 UTC
Noctilucent clouds seen over Vantaa in Finland in 2009.
© Mika-Pekka MarkkanenNoctilucent clouds seen over Vantaa in Finland in 2009
Each year, an eerie mass of bright blue clouds descends over Antarctica, as sunlight is reflected though dense layers of ice crystals to create a brilliant, glowing haze that can be seen from space.

But according to new images recorded by NASA, those otherworldly clouds made their annual appearance way earlier than expected this year, and scientists are struggling to explain why we got a two-week head-start on the South Pole's 'night-shining' event.
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Cloud Lightning

Increased activity of ethereal sprites over Spain during recent thunderstorms


Strange Sounds
Tue, 29 Nov 2016 00:00 UTC
sprite spain
In the last 10 days, an enhanced sprite activity is reported in the sky from Spain due to strong lightning storms.

Fire in the sky!

Thunderstorms are ferocious natural phenomena. Crackles of lightning and booms of thunder reign over the surface of the Earth. However, something else occasionally floats ethereally above the storm clouds: a short-lived sprite.

Comment: Further reading:

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Camera

Fiery sprites photographed over Japan

YUMI NAKAYAMA
Asahi Shimbun
Fri, 02 Dec 2016 13:15 UTC
Sprites over Japan
© Yasuo TakedaSprites appear above cumulonimbus clouds off the coast of Hokota, Ibaraki Prefecture, on Nov. 25.
Photographer Yasuo Takeda thought he was seeing things when strange lights shot up into the sky off the coast from Hokota, Ibaraki Prefecture, east of Tokyo, on Nov. 25.

But he was actually lucky enough to witness sprites, a phenomenon that is rarely observed, let alone photographed, as the natural lights are usually obscured by the lightning that often accompanies them.

Sprites occur about 50 to 90 kilometers above ground and become visible when nitrogen molecules emit light after coming into contact with electrical charges released from lightning clouds.

"It happened in an instant as though it was some sort of optical illusion," said Takeda, 56, of his fortunate chance encounter.

It is believed that sprites occur frequently during the winter off the coast of Ibaraki and Chiba prefectures as well as in the Sea of Japan.

Takeda used his meteorological knowledge as a weather forecaster to work out the time and location where the sprites might appear.

Comment: A couple of months ago 28 sprites were captured above hurricane Matthew as it was rapidly intensifying, and an enormous 'jellyfish' sprite was photographed over the Caribbean Sea. Also this year 'rare' red sprites have been recorded over northern Italy, Texas and Arizona.

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Sun

Sun halo spotted over Cape Coral, Florida

Rob Duns
NBC2
Sat, 26 Nov 2016 22:57 UTC
Sun halo in Cape Coral, FL
© Sue Murdock
A great example of what's known as a sun halo was spotted over Cape Coral on Saturday.

A sun halo is when an enormous ring appears to form around the sun. Though the effect appears rather remarkable, it's actually a somewhat common occurrence.

Sun halos are formed when cirrus clouds are present in the atmosphere. These are clouds forming well above the Earth's surface, usually at heights greater than 22,000 feet. The temperature in the atmosphere this high up is cold, so instead of being made up of tiny water droplets like clouds closer to the surface, cirrus clouds are constructed with small ice crystals.

When the sun's light hits these small ice crystals in the sky, the light is bent in the same manner as it is when entering a prism. This is what generates the circular structure we see when sun halos form.
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Telescope

Weird atmospheric wave ripples over China


Spaceweather.com
Thu, 24 Nov 2016 03:00 UTC
Mesospheric Bore Atmospheric Wave Over China Taken by Jeff Dai on November 24, 2016, Mount Balang, Sichuan, Chin
© Xiao Shuai Mesospheric Bore over China

MESOSPHERIC BORE (IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK)

This month, a lot is happening in the mesosphere. The mesosphere is a layer of Earth's atmosphere above the stratosphere; it is the realm of sprites, noctilucent clouds (NLCs), and airglow. Starting on Nov. 17th, NASA's AIM spacecraft spotted bright noctilucent clouds forming in the mesosphere above Antarctica. Then, in an apparently unrelated development on Nov. 24th, the normal dome of airglow over China split in two.


Comment: Meanwhile down below between 17th and 25th November there were strong earthquakes occurring: Strong 6.4 magnitude earthquake strikes Argentina, 7.3 Magnitude earthquake off Fukushima triggers tsunami warning, Magnitude 6.5 earthquake hits northeast Tajikistan, Tsunami warning lifted in El Salvador and Nicaragua after 7.0 magnitude earthquake strikes in Pacific Ocean


Xiao Shuai photographed the event from Mount Balang in Sichuan:

Comment: For more strange happenings on the planet see: SOTT Earth Changes Summary - October 2016: Extreme Weather, Planetary Upheaval, Meteor Fireballs

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Cloud Grey

Sky over Antarctica glows blue with ring of bright noctilucent clouds


Space Weather
Mon, 28 Nov 2016 19:48 UTC
Noctilucent clouds over Antarctica
© NASA
This just in from NASA's AIM spacecraft: The sky above Antarctica is glowing electric blue. A ring of bright noctilucent clouds (NLCs) has formed around the South Pole, shown here in a Nov. 24th image taken by the spacecraft's Cloud Imaging and Particle Size (CIPS) Instrument:

"This season started on Nov. 17th, and is tied with 2013 for the earliest southern hemisphere season in the CIPS data record," says Cora Randall, a member of the AIM science team at the University of Colorado.

NLCs are Earth's highest clouds. They form more than 80 km above Earth's surface. Indeed, they are a mixture of Earth and space: Wisps of summertime water vapor rising from the planet below wrap themselves around meteoroids, forming tiny crystals of ice. Emphasis on summertime; NLCs appear on the eve of summer in both hemispheres.

There is growing evidence that noctilucent clouds are boosted by climate change. In recent years they have been sighted at lower latitudes than ever before, and they often get started in earlier months as well.

"The early start of the 2016 season was not at all a surprise," says Randall. "The southern hemisphere polar stratospheric winds switched to their summer-like state quite early this year."
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Igloo

November snow in Tokyo - First time in 50-years


Sputnik News
Thu, 24 Nov 2016 05:13 UTC
Snowing November in Tokyo
© AP Photo/Koji SasaharaPeople walk against blowing snow in Tokyo.
Japan's capital is experiencing November snow for the first time in more than 50 years, data from the Japan Meteorological Agency shows.The snowfall was registered on Thursday morning in central Tokyo. It was also snowing in the cities of Yokohama, Kofu, Utsunomiya and Maebashi. According to the NHK broadcaster, this is the first time that it is snowing in November in Tokyo in 54 years.

Japan's meteorologists do not exclude that by Friday morning, there could be up to two centimeters (almost one inch) of snow in Tokyo.

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