Submission + - Noctilucent clouds likely caused by Shuttle Launch (sciencenews.org)
icebike writes: "We recently covered the hysteria of Noctilucent clouds here, where there was some suggestions that these were the product of Global Warming due to moisture being lofted high into the atmosphere due to warming.
It now may be that these are simply the product of Shuttle launches.
Science News is reporting in a story about the Tunguska blast that:
"Each launch of a space shuttle, which burns a combination of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen as fuel, pumps about 300 metric tons of water vapor into the atmosphere at altitudes between 100 and 115 kilometers. Soon after the January 16, 2003, launch of the shuttle Columbia, a liftoff that took place just after the height of summer in the Southern Hemisphere, noctilucent clouds appeared over Antarctica. Similarly, a widespread display of the night-shining clouds showed up over Alaska two days after the shuttle Endeavour blasted off on August 8, 2007. Previous studies show that in both instances those clouds included material from the shuttle plumes." So Man made after all?"
It now may be that these are simply the product of Shuttle launches.
Science News is reporting in a story about the Tunguska blast that:
"Each launch of a space shuttle, which burns a combination of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen as fuel, pumps about 300 metric tons of water vapor into the atmosphere at altitudes between 100 and 115 kilometers. Soon after the January 16, 2003, launch of the shuttle Columbia, a liftoff that took place just after the height of summer in the Southern Hemisphere, noctilucent clouds appeared over Antarctica. Similarly, a widespread display of the night-shining clouds showed up over Alaska two days after the shuttle Endeavour blasted off on August 8, 2007. Previous studies show that in both instances those clouds included material from the shuttle plumes." So Man made after all?"
