During winter at high latitudes, however, stratospheric temperature sometimes becomes low enough to promote formation of clouds. Polar stratospheric clouds can form at temperatures below about 195 K. Chemical reactions on the surfaces of the particles that form these clouds convert chlorine compounds from inert forms into highly reactive species. But nacreous clouds are different. For comparison, some of the highest clouds in the troposphere have a ceiling height of about 40,000 feet. In spite of nearly three decades of research, significant gaps in our understanding of processes in Polar Stratospheric Clouds (PSC) still exist. a cloud that forms at altitudes of about 21,000 m during the Arctic and Antarctic winter or early spring, when air temperatures drop below -80C. As temperatures in the lower stratosphere cools below -80'C, Polar Stratospheric Clouds (PSC's) start to form. Polar Stratospheric Clouds Tropical Cyclones One explanation for the decrease in the equator to pole temperature difference (EPTD) during equable climates examines the influence of polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) on longwave radiation leaving the Earth in the high-latitudes and, as a result, on temperatures near the poles. Polar Stratospheric Cloud Background These clouds exist at very high altitude (~70,000 ft) within Earth's stratosphere.Clouds do not normally form in the stratosphere due to its extreme dryness. The second problem with modeled denitrification shown in Figure 10 is that the HNO 3 at 63°S is about 1–3 ppbv smaller than the observed abundance from mid‐July until the end of the season. Most of the anarctic stratospheric chlorine ends up in resevoir compounds such as ClONO2 or HCl. Nacreous clouds develop at very high altitudes, within the lower stratosphere at 70,000 feet or above. CALIPSO = Cloud‐Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations; PSC = polar stratospheric cloud. Polar stratospheric clouds or PSCs, also known as nacreous clouds (/ ˈ n eɪ k r iː. Bottom line: Polar stratospheric clouds – also called nacreous clouds or mother-of-pearl clouds – have been putting on a show for those at latitudes near the Arctic Circle. Polar stratospheric clouds occur only in high-latitude regions during the winter, or near winter, when temperatures in the lower and middle stratosphere fall below about −78 °C for nitric acid trihydrate, −81 °C for supercooled ternary solution polar stratospheric clouds and −85 °C for ice polar stratospheric clouds. The Type 1 PSCs form when the stratospheric temperature drops below -108 F. They are primarily composed of nitric acid, water, and sulfuric acid. Polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) are clouds that form in the polar regions during the winter. 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