Cloud vortices off Jan Mayen Island, Greenland Sea - related image preview

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Cloud vortices off Jan Mayen Island, Greenland Sea

Resembling the frosting shells that trim a fine cake, cloud vortices swirl behind Jan Mayen Island in the Greenland Sea. Vortices such as these form when air moving over the smooth ocean surface is forced over some obstacle, like an island. The disturbance creates eddies in the air, which have blown the clouds into the pattern seen here. At the center of each eddy is a dark, cloud-free circle, which gets progressively smaller as the turbulence in the air subsides. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image on May 16, 2005.


Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC

Published May 19, 2005
Data acquired May 16, 2005

Source:
Aqua > MODIS
Collection:
Visible Earth