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Were Noctilucent Clouds Caused by the Krakatoa Eruption? a Case Study of the Research ^ ^ Problems Before 1885

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Were Noctilucent Clouds Caused by the Krakatoa Eruption? a Case Study of the Research ^ ^ Problems Before 1885 Were Noctilucent Clouds Caused by the Krakatoa Eruption? A Case Study of the Research ^ ^ Problems before 1885 Wilfried Schroder Bremen-Roennebeck, Germany ABSTRACT It is known that noctilucent clouds were first observed in 1885, two years after the great Krakatoa eruption in the Sunda Straits. The preeminent question of whether noctilucent clouds appeared before 1885 is studied here in detail. Using various literature sources and observational records for the nineteenth century from several observers it can be shown that before 1885 noctilucent clouds were never described in the literature. The so-called bright nights or Leuchtstreifen phenomenon was well known in the nineteenth century, but no observer described any structures that can be identified as noctilucent clouds. This result makes it clear that the noctilucent clouds seen in 1885 were the first such observations to be made. A possible increase in frequency of occurrence can be estimated from the year of discov- ery up to the present day. 1. Problem that were available to him from the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, and he began research on the A fundamental feature in understanding the nocti- height, dynamics, and nature of the clouds. lucent clouds and the problems of a possible mesos- Since that period (1885-96) the attention given to pheric change is the question of the timing of the first the clouds has varied from time to time. For some years sightings of these clouds (cf. Schroder 1971, 1975; only sporadic data are available. But in more recent Thomas et al. 1989). In 1883 the great eruption of the years, scientists from Russia and Germany have stud- Krakatoa volcano occurred. After its explosion intense ied the clouds so that more than 1000 observations are twilight phenomena were observed all over the world. available. From analysis of the latest data it seems that In Europe many beautiful colors in the morning and the frequency of occurrence of these clouds has in- evening sky were seen and described (Bezold 1906; Jesse creased. This has been discussed in detail by Thomas 1885; Foerster 1906). Furthermore, Bishop's ring and et al. (1989) and Thomas (1996). other phenomena were discovered (Kiessling 1885a). From these studies noctilucent clouds have been In 1885 observers reported the existence of silvery interpreted as one of the indicators of atmospheric glo- clouds that appeared in the evening sky; they were well bal change. Therefore it is important to have more in- defined with ripples and some wave structure. Some sight into the real observational situation before 1885. days later, Otto Jesse, an astronomer at the Berlin Ob- servatory, and many other observers in Germany also watched these clouds in the evening sky. Since those 2. The observers observations, Jesse documented and sampled all data In the nineteenth century geophysics did not exist as a scientific discipline and no regular upper- Corresponding author address: Wilfried Schroder, Hechelstrasse atmospheric studies were made. Geophysical data 8, D-28777 Bremen-Roennebeck, Germany. and observations were collected by astronomers, In final form 20 April 1999. meteorologists, and physicists according to their own ©1999 American Meteorological Society particular interests in the field. At that time an inter- Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 210 7 Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/04/21 04:40 AM UTC national network existed following the ideas of tant international scientific programs were started Humboldt and GauB. Furthermore, many astronomers in the nineteenth century: the coordinated measure- were interested in the earth's atmospheric physics (be- ment of electromagnetic field by the Gottinger cause at this time the professions of meteorology and Magnetischer Verein and the worldwide observations geophysics did not exist). The network of the during the First International Polar Year (1882-83) Gottingen Magnetic Verein and its worldwide observ- (cf. Schroder 1991). Although the first project focused ing stations numbered more than 50; scientists in the on the collection of geomagnetic data, anomalous sky network studied geomagnetic problems and atmo- phenomena such as auroras were also observed. The spheric phenomena in general. This was done in both second project dealt mostly with the aurora borealis the Northern and Southern Hemispheres (Schroder from high to midlatitudes; twilight studies were also 1999). It should be noted that in general an observer made. The Polar Year observations were obtained had the chance to note a noctilucent cloud if it existed, from more than 100 stations on land and sea in the but that was not the main research focus. Two impor- Southern and Northern Hemispheres. Auroras were studied in both hemispheres. Fur- _______ thermore, regular observations of twilight and airglow were made. In TABLE 1. Twilight phenomena and volcanic activity in the nineteenth century (examples). this connection some 100 scientists observed the sky on different dates Date Place Observations and times throughout the entire year. In the period 1882-83 no re- 1815 Sumbawa (8°S) No anomalous phenomena ported atmospheric phenomena 1821 France (~45°-50°N) Ununsual color of the evening sky; showed a relation to noctilucent England (~50°-55°N) white fog clouds; therefore it can be con- cluded that there were no noctilu- Aug 1822 Aleppo (~36°N) Sky as in fire cent clouds observed in the years before the Krakatoa eruption. Some Jul 1828 Marburg (~50°N) Sky color phenomena observers also studied twilight Jul 1829 Hungary (~46°-48°N) Red clouds phenomena; data were collected by Bezold (1906), Riggenbach Jul 1831 Volcanos/Sicily (~38°N) No NLC; color phenomena, increased (1886), Necker and Bravais (see twilight (many European places) Riggenbach 1886), Jesse (1885, 1886), Kiessling (1885a,b), Aug 1831 Central America Increased sun colors; sun in various Schmidt (1865), and Hellman (~0°-20°S) color (1884). These people were all good 1859 Australia Unusual twilight observers, generally being astrono- mers or physicists. During this 1860 Mount Baker (~49°N) Great eruption and ashes; no unusual time, auroral data were also com- remarks on clouds piled by H. Fritz in his catalog 1861 Dschebbel (Africa) Great ash fallout (no unusual (1873). remarks) It is of interest to note that the study of twilight as a scientific 1861 Vesuv (~39°N) Twilight unusual problem was important in the on- 1862 Makjan Island Makjan vanished; no going research of the nineteenth atmospheric remarks century. Furthermore, interest in solar-terrestrial physics, especially 1863 Klot (Java; ~5°-10°S) Sky red, great ash fallout in auroral data, increased at this time (Schroder 1987, 1991). All 1863 Etna (~37°N) Ash rain these points emphasize that there Jul 1880 Cotopaxi (~0°-5°S) Green sun, increased twilight and were different interests in and on- colored sky going scientific investigations of the terrestrial atmosphere as far 2060 Vol. 80,, No. 10,, October 1999 Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/04/21 04:40 AM UTC TABLE 2. Bravais's twilight observations. Please note that no TABLE 3. Jesse's compilation of noctilucent clouds (NLC) since noctilucent clouds have been described. 1884. Date Sky Year Remarks 4 Aug 1842 Red band, small yellow and green bands 1883 (~52°5N) Twilight observations: No NLC 5 Aug 1842 Cirri in green sky, red colors in west 1884 (~52°5N) Twilight observations: No NLC 6 Aug 1842 Low red colors 1885 (~52°5N) 23 Jun: NLC 8 Aug 1842 Normal twilight colors 24 Jun: NLC 9 Aug 1842 Twilight 25 Jun: no NLC 10 Aug 1842 Normal twilight colors 27 Jun: NLC 12 Aug 1842 Red twilight colors 28 Jun: no NLC 13 Aug 1842 Red clouds in the west, sky background 30 Jun-2 Jul: NLC yellow 6 and 7 Jul: NLC 14 Aug 1842 Red, yellow, and green colors 8 and 9 Jul: NLC 15 Aug 1842 Red in the east 10 and 11 Jul: no NLC 17 Aug 1842 Clear sky, normal twilight phenomena 13 Jul, 16 Jul: no NLC 30 Aug 1844 Normal twilight phenomena 17 Jul: NLC Source: Riggenbach 18 Jul: no NLC 19 Jul: NLC back as the nineteenth century. This is important to con- sider when attempting to explain why noctilucent 21 Jul: NLC clouds were not observed before 1885. 22 Jul: NLC 3. Observations of noctilucent clouds 26 Jul: no NLC 28 Jul: NLC (very bright) The observational data are shown in Tables 1^4. It is clear that "increased" twilight was noted in many cases. 1886-1891 (~52°5N) year-to-year observations in the Color variability of the sky was well known in the Berlin Atmospheric Programme nineteenth century. After various volcanic eruptions, and positive event of NLC increased twilight phenomena were observed over many years (see tables). The descriptions show many variable color phenomena, increased twilight structures, and in 4. Did noctilucent clouds exist before some cases the so-called bright nights. These data pro- 1885? vide good insight into the twilight and night sky variabil- ity, but only in terms of regular and irregular color If we use noctilucent clouds as first indicators of phenomena in the sky. No noctilucent clouds can be iden- atmospheric global change (Schroder 1971; Thomas tified from the descriptions in these reports before 1885 et al. 1989; Thomas 1996) the question arises, were (cf. Table 4). they described or did they even exist prior to 1885? This is a difficult question because no clear nomen- Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 210 7 Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/04/21 04:40 AM UTC clature of twilight features exists. Nevertheless, if they (1883-85), remarkable twilights and skyscapes of had existed they almost certainly would have been colors were noted by European observers. noted in some fashion. Noctilucent clouds show strik- Using data currently available, we can say that ing features (waves, ripples, white-blue color, etc.); noctilucent clouds were first observed two years after they are most impressive spectacles in the sky.
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