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Science 19 April 1963:
Vol. 140. no. 3564, pp. 292 - 294
DOI: 10.1126/science.140.3564.292-a
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Articles

Stratospheric Cloud over Northern Arizona

James E. McDonald 1

1 Institute of Atmospheric Physics, University of Arizona, Tucson

An unusual ring-shaped cloud was widely observed over northern Arizona near sunset on 28 February 1963. From a large number of observers' reports it is known to have appeared overhead near Flagstaff, Arizona. From initial computations based on four photos taken in Tucson, 190 miles south of the cloud, its altitude was approximately 35 kilometers. The most distant observation reported was made 280 miles from the cloud. The cloud remained sunlit for 28 minutes after local sunset. Iridescence was noted by many observers. Tentatively, the cloud may be regarded as similar to a nacreous cloud; but its unusually great height and unusually low altitude, plus its remarkable shape, suggest that it was a cloud of previously unrecorded type.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)