Monday, July 2, 2018

Hole in the Clouds: Von Karman Vortex

Back in early February I observed spiral of low stratus clouds off the U.S. west coast. I put up a short note about it (swirling-hole-in-clouds).


Doing some random research on a favorite topic I came across this NASA image:

Holes in the stratus down wind of Tristan da Cunha

As a side note I have been fascinated by the South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha in part because I once had a map of the world completely covering on my wall and Tristan was right above the table I ate at - a remote island in the ocean demanding attention.

The hole in the clouds I observed is the same phenomenon and has a name - Von Karman vortex. And turns out that what I observed caught the attention of others and made the local news: https://weather.com/science/weather-explainers/news/2018-02-04-southern-california-von-karman-vortex

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