The phenomenon of clouds shines at night

Jim Russel, a professor at Hampton University, an atmospheric scientist and chiefly responsible for AIM satellite funded by NASA, was the first to study thin clouds of night light appearing in the region The polarity has revealed the information that clouds are thought to be affected by climate change.

Russell discovered that these clouds are brighter and wider when the top layer of the atmosphere becomes colder. He thinks these changes are due to global warming that people are the main agents.

(Artwork: TRB.com) The Mesosphere satellite is turning to the first global positioning diagram of the surface and structure of clouds, including rock dust molecules bounded together on the surface Earth about 42 to 60 miles. The diagram shows that clouds that are sensitive to changes in the upper layer of the atmosphere are different from the previous assumptions because they are changing the brightness and range.

Scientists say this is the reason why residents of regions in the south like Colorado and Utah can see these clouds in recent years. Previously, only people in northern Europe and Canada saw that kind of cloud.

AIM is part of NASA's Small Explorers program. The budget for this project is about 140 million dollars until May 2009, but Professor Russel hopes this project can be further supported to expand the research. AIM satellites are studying Antarctic clouds, bright clouds only form in each hemisphere in the summer when at the highest points of the lowest temperature atmosphere.

Professor Russel first presented a part of the research results at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco: 'We want to obtain long-term data to survey the change is also long-term. '

Russel said climate change may have changed the temperature and the amount of water vapor. As the temperature of the Earth's surface heats up, the coldest regions of the atmosphere, where clouds appear, also become colder. The cooler the temperature, the more clouds expand the range.