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Types of Iridescent Clouds

Abstract

THE remarkable clouds at high altitude which have been the subject of two interesting articles by Prof. Carl Størmer1 and Prof. S. Chapman2 in NATURE are referred to as iridescent or mother-of-pearl clouds. In order to prevent misunderstanding, I should like to point out that the high clouds in question should not be confused with the much more common ‘iridescent clouds’ which are described in most textbooks of meteorology.3 The latter are cirro-stratus or cirro-cumulus clouds and are certainly well within the troposphere, at a height of approximately 10,000 metres, while the clouds described by Størmer are two or three times as high and are well within the stratosphere.

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References

  1. NATURE, Feb. 16, 1929, p. 260.

  2. NATURE, April 2, 1932, p. 497.

  3. see "Meteorologische Optik", by Pertner-Exner, second edition, p. 460.

  4. Simpson, Quar. J. Roy. Met. Soc., 38, 291; 1912.

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SIMPSON, G. Types of Iridescent Clouds. Nature 129, 689–690 (1932). https://doi.org/10.1038/129689b0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/129689b0

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