The Stunningly Beautiful Clouds

          Some natural phenomena are rare and beautiful, like red diamonds, the Northern Lights and double rainbows. But others, like nacreous clouds, are rare, beautiful and destructive. Behind their iridescent, rainbow-colored façade, these clouds are wreaking havoc on our atmosphere.

         

        So, how Nacreous Clouds form?

Nacreous clouds develop in high latitudes – 60 to 90 degrees – of the Northern and Southern hemispheres. In addition to forming at high latitudes, they exist only at high altitude. Nacreous clouds form in the stratosphere, at 70,000 feet or above — more than twice as high as commercial airliners fly, according to NASA. This is also where the ozone layer resides. Clouds generally don't form in the stratosphere. Nacreous cloud is a mixture of supercooled water, ice crystals and nitric acid.

        The nacreous clouds provide an ideal surface for chemical reactions that involve CFC-derived compounds. As these compounds interact with nacreous clouds, chlorine gas is released. Chlorine gas kills the naturally occurring ozone in the stratosphere. One chlorine atom can destroy thousands of ozone molecules due to the catalytic nature of the reaction. This means chlorine acts as an agent to accelerate the breakdown of ozone.

        Be that as it may, researchers at Columbia University say CFCs last a long time in the atmosphere: up to 100 years. So while they may be beautiful, nacreous clouds will be harming the ozone layer well into the future.

source:https://weather.com/news/news/ozone-chlorofluorocarbons-cfc-nacreous-clouds-polar-vortex-stratosphere-reaction