Fenscape 20

Lazy Otter 170118-1The eastern sky from the bank of the Great Ouse near Streatham this morning was extraordinary, a mass of orange and gold scribbles against the purple-blue.  In cloud spotter parlance they are ‘contrails’ (condensation trails) formed in the cold air by high-altitude aircraft.  Before the early years of the 20th Century they were an unknown phenomenon, first occurring over century after Quaker Luke Howard first proposed a classification for clouds in 1802.

Lazy Otter 170118-2But why so many today?  Probably largely due to the weather, very clear and cold, which will have assisted their formation and made them visible as the sun illuminated the upper atmosphere.  There were five trails being formed by moving aircraft at one point; and in calm conditions earlier trails will have remained intact in conditions that encouraged them to grow and spread.

Lazy Otter 170118-3All very extraordinary and dramatic; at the same time lurid and indicative of what’s being pumped out into the atmosphere.  It was a relief to look away and find a subtler fenscape of reeds, water and open sky.

Photos: Fens & River Great Ouse near Streatham, January 2016

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