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More Selkirk Cloudscapes A Selkirk Island, Chile story

Coasts  / 
Water
  1. Selkirk Island, Chile
  2. More Selkirk Cloudscapes
Description

Since its launch in 1999, Landsat 7 has not again seen such nice vortices over Selkirk Island. A single vortex formed on March 25, 2000, from a similar southerly wind, but then the pattern broke up. That morning the clouds were too unstable, as shown by the turbulent convection cells in the northeast.

In its first year of acquiring images, the whole island was never visible to Landsat 7. Even on a clear day like November 18, 1999, the island's heat and elevation heave up damp marine air into the cold, until it reaches its dew point and condenses into a kind of permanent parasol of clouds. This sometimes trails downwind a short distance on windy days, as on February 22, 2000.

On November 10, 2008, the island looked a bit more like an icebreaker ship plowing through ice pack; no vortex street this time, but the effect the tall mountain island has on the clouds is clearly demonstrated. The February 14, 2009, image almost displays a vortex, but it didn’t quite form completely.

View Related Imagery & Stories

Location

Mar. 25, 2000, Landsat 7 (path/row 6/83) — Selkirk Island cloudscape

Mar. 25, 2000, Landsat 7 (path/row 6/83) — Selkirk Island cloudscape

Feb. 22, 2000, Landsat 7 (path/row 6/83) — Selkirk Island cloudscape

Feb. 22, 2000, Landsat 7 (path/row 6/83) — Selkirk Island cloudscape

Feb. 14, 2009, Landsat 7 (path/row 6/83) — Selkirk Island cloudscape

Feb. 14, 2009, Landsat 7 (path/row 6/83) — Selkirk Island cloudscape

Mar. 25, 2000, Landsat 7 (path/row 6/83) — Selkirk Island cloudscape
Feb. 22, 2000, Landsat 7 (path/row 6/83) — Selkirk Island cloudscape
Feb. 14, 2009, Landsat 7 (path/row 6/83) — Selkirk Island cloudscape

Selkirk Island, Chile Additional Imagery & Stories

A Note on the Images
A Note on the Images

The Landsat images that are shown on Earthshots are combinations of three different wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. Typically, the images...

Read More
Other Vortices
Other Vortices

Selkirk Island is not the only place where Landsat has seen vortex streets. Other places where this phenomenon is common are nearby Robinson Crusoe Is...

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Rare Clear Views
Rare Clear Views

April 19, 2009, could have been a rare clear view of the island, but some of the data are missing because of Landsat 7’s Scan Line Corrector (SLC) mal...

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Reflectivity of Water
Reflectivity of Water

Have you noticed that in these images, clouds look white but the ocean looks black? Both are made of the same substance, water—why would they appear a...

Read More
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