Noctilucent Clouds spotted from the south coast of Ireland - June 2019

One of the most remarkable weather phenomenon of recent times has been the appearance of Noctilucent clouds during June and July.

The 2019 season appears to be exceptional as a record amount of moisture has entered the upper atmosphere and allowed water vapor to condense onto particles of meteor dust at 80 kms or so above the earths surface.

These two photos were taken from Cork on the south coast of Ireland on Monday night the 17th of June 2019.

Both photos were taken well after sunset and it shows the Noctilucent clouds being illuminated by sunlight coming over the North Pole.

Radio wise, there is some question as to whether these clouds at 80 kms have any impact on signals? In recent times, there have been some extraordinary openings from Europe to Japan on 50 MHz. Is there a connection?

Noctilucent clouds visible from Cork... Sat 7th July 2018

I took this photo of noctilucent clouds from my house in Cork on the south coast of Ireland at about 23:08 UTC on Sat 7th July 2018. This was just after midnight local summer time and about 130 minutes after sunset.

To the naked eye, they looked a bit like a bright cloud on the horizon and a 5 second exposure on the camera was needed to bring out the detail shown above.

My location is just below 52 degrees north so they would certainly have been visible by anyone further north. I could still see them faintly at about 00:00 UTC which was 1am local time, roughly 3 hours after sunset.

Noctilucent clouds exist at a height of about 80 kms above the earths surface, way above where normal clouds exist. Some propose that they may have a bearing on VHF propagation on paths near the poles... example... Europe to Japan on 50 MHz.