Season of rare, silvery-blue nighttime clouds is upon us

TORONTO – Keep an eye on the sky after the sun sets and you may be treated to a fantastic atmospheric spectacle – noctilucent clouds.

Each summer, high northern altitudes – such as Canada – are treated to a spectacular and poorly understood display of these silvery-blue, shimmering evening clouds, called noctilucent clouds or NLCs.

Noctilucent Clouds and Aurora. from Maciej Winiarczyk on Vimeo.

The bright, electric-blue clouds, which appear to the north, are in the highest part of our atmosphere, roughly 80 to 90 km above Earth.

In 2013, the NLC season got off to an early start, puzzling scientists. NLCs are tied to the solar cycle, usually appearing during a solar minimum. However, the sun is going through a solar maximum.

Recent studies suggest that these clouds are becoming more visible near the 40th and 50th parallel.

NLCs are tied to meteoroids or small debris that enters Earth’s atmosphere. The clouds are spotted in summer in the northern hemisphere because water molecules from the lower atmosphere mix with the leftover “smoke” of the debris.

According to Spaceweather.com, there has been an outbreak of the clouds the past week over Europe.

In 2007, NASA launched the Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) mission to study polar clouds. The mission is also helping scientists to better understand the mysterious NLCs.

Though the clouds have been spotted as far south as southern Ontario, those in higher latitudes have a better chance of spotting them.

To see the most recent NLC activity, click here.

So if you have a clear sky, remember to look up! You might get lucky.

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