Island churns out dozens of mesmerizing, swirling clouds
Satellites recently captured a long street of von Kármán vortices swirling over the eastern Pacific Ocean
Oceanic horizons offer unique clouds that seem foreign to us landlubbers who haven’t had a chance to set sail. Some of those formations even look humdrum from a ship’s deck, only revealing their striking beauty when viewed from above.
Among the most gorgeous of those hidden-in-plain-sight formations are von Kármán vortices, which often dance above the Pacific Ocean as winds blow past certain islands in the region.
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Winds encounter the least interruption while they’re blowing over the open ocean, where the air can move smoothly with little friction and fewer obstacles to slow it down. But mountainous islands like those found off the western coast of Mexico can send that smooth wind tumbling in a hurry.
When steady winds blow against these towers of rock amid the flat seascape, the disruption creates ripples in the air current that flows downwind from the island. These ripples are called von Kármán vortex streets, named after legendary NASA aerodynamicist Theodore von Kármán.
Air slows down while rubbing directly against the mountain, allowing wind speeds to drop right over the island while winds continue humming along nearby where friction is much lower. This difference creates a vortex much like running your hand through a swimming pool.
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The pressure difference created by the vortex causes a rhythmic oscillation that forces the vortex to swap back and forth from one side of the mountain to the other, allowing clockwise and counterclockwise vortices to churn downwind the island at regular intervals.
A fantastic display of von Kármán vortex streets requires low-lying stratus clouds to make these vortices visible. Low-level clouds are common in the eastern Pacific Ocean, making the delicate and mesmerizing swirls of von Kármán vortex streets a frequent sight over the region.
