Nature Photographers Network
This is the preserved archive of the original Nature Photographers Network. The community continues at naturephotographers.network.
Nacreous clouds #3
‹ PreviousLandscape GalleryNext ›

Nacreous clouds #3

by Roel Wijtmans

Gallery: LandscapePosted January 9, 2013152 views4 comments
I read in the comments in my previous post that Stan was not really convinced that those were nacreous clouds, so I thought I'd post this one, which was the last 'stage' that these clouds went through that evening. The picture is not a real beauty, but I think this shows that these were high altitude clouds. They are bright orange, while 'normal' clouds can be seen as dark forms against the blue background. Moreover, it all began about two hours prior to this when I spotted clouds which showed iridescent behavior (though they were not the normal type of iridescent clouds), which is a property of nacreous clouds. So all in all, I'm pretty convinced that these were nacreous clouds, although I can definitely imagine that there may be different types of clouds interacting, especially in the second nacreous clouds picture I posted.

Curious to hear your thoughts about this!

Roel

Comments

4 comments
Comment posted by Gary Reed on January 9, 2013 at 4:02 PM
Clouds?? ...I only see fire in the sky. :jump:
Registered on September 19, 2009, 198 Posts, 1074 Comments
Comment posted by Stan Rose on January 9, 2013 at 6:59 PM
Neat photo, i like the contrasts! Irridecence is the hallmark of nacreous clouds, and that's completely absent in your photos. Nacreous and noctilucent clouds are super high altitude--stratospheric, these don't look nearly that high. So--still not convinced--I could be wrong, though, wouldn't be the first time!
Registered on September 15, 2005, 836 Posts, 17099 Comments
Comment posted by Roel Wijtmans on January 10, 2013 at 12:10 PM
Hi Stan, the clouds were iridescent, I'll post some pictures where that's more obvious!
Registered on September 30, 2012, 116 Posts, 2257 Comments
Comment posted by Roel Wijtmans on January 10, 2013 at 12:11 PM
And the other one, which is how I first spotted them!
Registered on September 30, 2012, 116 Posts, 2257 Comments