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Re: Atmosphere becoming more turbulent? unusual cloud patterns seen in skies over Alabama

By: Decomposed in ROUND | Recommend this post (0)
Wed, 21 Dec 11 5:14 PM | 35 view(s)
Boardmark this board | De's Test Board 		Msg. 37276 of 45651
(This msg. is a reply to 37271 by capt_nemo)
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That's pretty cool. I've seen patterned cloud formations that might have been due to similar atmospheric conditions, but never as well defined as these. Very cool.

Strange things happen in the atmosphere - and not just the atmosphere of Earth. I think Saturn's North pole probably takes the prize in this category:

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Infrared observations of the south pole of Saturn as taken by the Cassini mission in 2007 and 2008 (NASA)
 

The entire north pole of Saturn is now mapped in detail in infrared, with features as small as 120 kilometers (75 miles) visible in the images. Time-lapse movies of the clouds circling the north pole show the whirlpool-like cyclone there is rotating at 530 kilometers per hour (325 miles per hour), more than twice as fast as the highest winds measured in cyclonic features on Earth. This cyclone is surrounded by an odd, honeycombed-shaped hexagon, which itself does not seem to move while the clouds within it whip around at high speeds, also greater than 500 kilometers per hour (300 miles per hour). Oddly, neither the fast-moving clouds inside the hexagon nor this new cyclone seem to disrupt the six-sided hexagon. – NASA Press Release (Oct. 13)

More: http://www.astroengine.com/2008/10/saturns-hexagonal-north-pole-what-is-causing-it/




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Gold is $1,581/oz today. When it hits $2,000, it will be up 26.5%. Let's see how long that takes. - De 3/11/2013 - ANSWER: 7 Years, 5 Months


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Atmosphere becoming more turbulent? unusual cloud patterns seen in skies over Alabama
By: capt_nemo in ROUND
Wed, 21 Dec 11 6:59 AM 		Msg. 37271 of 45651

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December 20, 2011 – ALABAMA – For a morning, the sky looked like a surfer’s dream: A series of huge breaking waves lined the horizon in Birmingham, Ala., on Friday (Dec. 16), their crests surging forward in slow motion. Amazed Alabamans took photos of the clouds and sent them to their local weather station, wondering, “What are these tsunamis in the sky?” Experts say the clouds were pristine examples of “Kelvin-Helmholtz waves.” Whether seen in the sky or in the ocean, this type of turbulence always forms when a fast-moving layer of fluid slides on top of a slower, thicker layer, dragging its surface. Water waves, for example, form when the layer of fluid above them (i.e., the air) is moving faster than the layer of fluid below (i.e., the water). When the difference between the wind and water speed increases to a certain point, the waves “break” — their crests lurch forward — and they take on the telltale Kelvin-Helmholtz shape. According to Chris Walcek, a meteorologist at the Atmospheric Sciences Research Center at the State University of New York, Albany, fast-moving air high in the sky can drag the top of slow-moving, thick clouds underneath it in much the same way. –Live Science

http://theextinctionprotocol.wordpress.com/2011/12/20/atmosphere-becoming-more-turbulent-unusual-cloud-patterns-seen-in-skies-over-alabama/

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