JPL Logo
Image

Swirls of Lace

March 14, 2001
Socorro, Mexico was captured by NASA's Terra satellite in 2000 showing cloud swirls, like delicate lace, forming patterns known as von Karman vortex streets.

These MISR nadir-camera images from April 23, 2000 (Terra orbit 1855) and May 9, 2000 (Terra orbit 2088) show cloud swirls, like delicate lace, forming patterns known as von Karman vortex streets. The turbulent atmospheric eddies form in the wake of an obstacle, in this instance the 1050-meter-high summit on the island of Socorro, Mexico. The surrounding clouds make the vortex patterns visible. To the northeast, much subtler disturbances are associated with the tiny Isla San Benedicto. Both islands are part of a group known as the Revillagigedo Archipelago, and are located about 400 kilometers equatorward of the southern tip of Baja California.

Each of these images is approximately 180 kilometers wide and 350 kilometers long. The von Karman vortices are named for aerodynamicist Theodore von Karman, one of the founders of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

MISR was built and is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, for NASA's Office of Earth Science, Washington, DC. The Terra satellite is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology.

Keep Exploring