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.