Condign volumes 1 to 3

Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.

# UNCLASSIFIED

UK RESTRICTED

briefly considered at Volume 3 as a source of radar false alarms in the UAP context Certain areas of the UKADR $ ^{1} $ (e.g. breeding areas) are prone to the presence of birds concentrations, shown at Figures 10 to 13, and are therefore more likely to be areas where UAP are mis-reported.

## MOTHS

16. Clouds of large moths, usually in some country areas, can briefly reflect light and appear as a 'vehicle'. Swarms of spruce budworm moths are said to be luminous.

## SOLAR RADIATION

17. LAZAREV, $ ^{2} $ writing in the Journal of Optical Technology, explains the 'outbreak in Flying Saucers' (in Brazil and S. Africa) by "atmospheric optical phenomena which manifest themselves especially distinctively at twilight, near the visible horizon of the earth".

18. It is claimed that this is associated with the increase of optically active air mass, coincident with sharp reduction of the brightness of the atmosphere combined with the enhanced contrast of the phenomenon against the twilight background. In particular (in the locations mentioned above) these formations were observed over volcanic areas and faded after a time. This is attributed to Fresnel reflection from clouds of heated gases (air, $ \mathrm{C O_{2}} $ , water vapour, volcanic sulphurous gases, aerosols etc.). Sometimes these ring-like formations were observed for several minutes.

19. Lazarev has also reported the entry of a snowball core (of a minicomet) into the atmosphere (26 September, 1990) and possibly again on 20 June, 1992 (at the

MIR orbital complex). The frequency of occurrence of cores of minicomets into the earth's atmosphere (observed from space station MIR) is assessed at -20 per minute.

## SUN PILLARS & LIGHT PILLARS

20. A vertical column of light can sometimes be seen either below or above the sun, usually when the sun is at low elevation angles. Sun pillars are produced when correctly orientated ice crystals reflect sunlight or when hexagonal columnar ice crystals fall through the air with their long axes orientated horizontally. Example Sun Pillars and Sun Dogs are shown at Figures 14 to 16. Light Pillars are similarly formed from strong light sources other than the sun. It is possible to observe Light Pillars which do not reach to the ground - another source of UAP activity with 'searchlights' beaming downwards.

$ ^{1} $ UK Military Low Flying Handbook (NATO Restricted) Edition 82 Dec, 1997.

$ ^{2} $ A I Lazarev, State Optical Institute, All Russia Scientific Centre, St Petersburgh. 1997.