The dark side of nacreous clouds with Dr Simon Lee

In December 2023 social platforms lit up with images of nacreous clouds. One evening in December 2023 these clouds, also known as mother of pearl clouds, were visible across the UK and Northern Europe. In this episode we welcome back stratospheric expert Dr Simon Lee to find out why these clouds were seen so far south and piece together the relationship between the displacement of the polar vortex while also learning there is a dark side to nacreous clouds. 

Dr. Lee talks about how sudden stratospheric warming was first observed in the 1950’s by scientists in Berlin. The scientists at the time referred to this as ‘explosive warming of the winter time stratosphere’. Although 70 years has passed there is still so much to learn about the interaction of the stratosphere and the troposphere. 

Simon delves into larger scale teleconnection patterns and explains why these types of clouds are more common in the Antarctic and what connection, if at all, El Nino may have on the stratosphere. 

Listen on if you want to learn about chlorine monoxide, ozone loss, the Aleutian Low and why cold air is increasingly hard to find. 

We last met Dr Simon Lee in November 2022 when we learned about all things polar vortex and the impact of sudden stratospheric warmings on the UK. You can find that episode on our website: https://www.fortheloveofweather.com/podcast/s05-e01-the-beast-from-the-east-and-the-polar-vortex-meet-dr-simon-lee

Simon is currently a Postdoctoral Research Scientist in the Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics (APAM) at Columbia University in the City of New York, where he works on stratosphere-troposphere coupling, large-scale climate dynamics and variability, and subseasonal-to-seasonal predictability and its applications. He is also Co-Editor-in-Chief of the RMetS Weather journal. 

Simon will soon move to the University of St Andrews in Scotland where he will take up a new post as a lecturer. 

Soon to move to University of St Andrews as a lecturer You can find Dr. Simon Lee on X @SimonLeeWx and we highly recommend you follow him. He is also on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonleewx.