MSGID: 1:317/3 628685ad   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   May 19, 2022 - Von Kármán Vortices in the Clouds off Guadalupe Island   
      
      Von Karman Vortice Clouds off Guadalupe Island   
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      On May 17, 2022, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer   
      (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of   
      stunningly beautiful swirls in a large bank of marine stratocumulus   
      clouds near Guadalupe Island. The string of alternate swirls, which   
      form string of paisley-like patterns on the lee side of Guadalupe   
      Island are called “von Kármán vortices” and arise when winds are   
      diverted around a blunt, high-profile object, often an island rising   
      from the ocean. The alternating direction of rotation in the air forms   
      swirls in the clouds. Such vortices were first described in 1912 by   
      physicist Theodore von Kármán.   
      
      Guadalupe Island sits in the Pacific Ocean about 150 miles off of the   
      coast of Mexico’s Baja California. Only 21 miles (35 km) long, the   
      highest point, Mount Augusta, soars to 4,257 feet (1,297   
      meters—creating a significant impediment to the movement of wind   
      blowing by it over an otherwise nearly-flat ocean surface. When rushing   
      water slams into an immobile object—such as a dock piling—it’s easy to   
      see that turbulence is created, leaving swirls behind the piling.   
      Principals of fluid motion also apply to the atmosphere, so when winds   
      are diverted around an immobile object, such as a tall mountain on an   
      island, turbulence is created on the lee side (the side away from the   
      motion of the wind). Since air is invisible, this atmospheric ocean is   
      only visible when clouds fill the sky.   
      
      Image Facts   
      Satellite:  Aqua   
      Date Acquired: 5/17/2022   
      Resolutions:  1km (410.1 KB),  500m (1019.5 KB),  250m (718.7   
      KB)   
      Bands Used: 1,4,3   
      Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC   
      
      
      
   https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2022-05-19   
       
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