Polar Stratospheric Clouds From SOLVE

  • Released Tuesday, May 30, 2000
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Polar stratospheric clouds form at extremely low temperatures in the upper atmosphere. Should the temperature rise, clouds won't form. In this visualization, sequential temperature readings taken in the research area for SOLVE (Stratospheric Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment) are plotted against a threshold temperature for PSC formation. These are clouds essentially made of nitric acid. Note how the area covered by the clouds increases as winter progresses. The red point on the map indicates the location of Kiruna, Sweden, the SOLVE staging area.

Polar stratospheric cloud regions for the period November 1, 1999 through March 15, 2000

Polar stratospheric cloud regions for January 15, 2000

Polar stratospheric cloud regions for January 15, 2000

Video slate image reads, "Model Prediction of Stratospheric Nitrous Oxide clouds".

Video slate image reads, "Model Prediction of Stratospheric Nitrous Oxide clouds".

For More Information

See http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/stories/solve/index.html

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Scientific Visualization Studio

This page was originally published on Tuesday, May 30, 2000.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:58 PM EDT.

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