Remote Sensing and GIS

Making Waves

(NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, using MODIS data from LANCE/EOSDIS Rapid Response.)

On November 27, 2015, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite captured this image of icebergs floating offshore of South Georgia Island, more than 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) east-northeast of Tierra del Fuego. Two of the larger bergs are big enough to force air masses up and over the ice. The resulting ripples in the atmosphere give rise to “wave clouds." The smaller bergs only produce a “cloud wake." Just as a ship leaves a V-shaped wake in the water, icebergs can leave behind similar wake in low-level clouds. (Source: Earth Observatory)