Other Vortices A Selkirk Island, Chile story
- Selkirk Island, Chile
- 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 Island; the Kuril Islands, Russia; Guadalupe Island, off the western coast of Mexico; and the Aleutian Islands, Alaska. The reason for the cloud patterns is the same: tall, steep-sided islands that affect the motion of passing clouds. That first image over Selkirk Island in September 1999, however, is still the clearest vortex street Landsat has recorded.
Location

Jan. 12, 2014, Landsat 8 (path/row 5/83) — Robinson Crusoe Island

Aug. 12, 2002, Landsat 5 (path/row 40/40) — Guadalupe Island

Jan. 20, 2015, Landsat 8 (path/row 40/40) — Guadalupe Island

July 1, 2016, Landsat 8 (path/row 40/40) — Guadalupe Island

Aug. 18, 2016, Landsat 8 (path/row 40/40) — Guadalupe Island

Sep. 3, 2016, Landsat 8 (path/row 40/40) — Guadalupe Island

June 4, 2008, Landsat 5 (path/row 85/24) — Aleutian Islands

June 4, 2008, Landsat 5 (path/row 85/24) — Aleutian Islands close up

July 28, 2016, Landsat 8 (path/row 85/24) — Aleutian Islands

Nov. 15, 2013, Landsat 8 (path/row 85/24) — Aleutian Islands

July 4, 2002, Landsat 7 (path/row 79/24) — Aleutian Islands

May 4, 2005, Landsat 7 (path/row 101/26) — Kuril Islands

Sept. 5, 2001, Landsat 7 (path/row 102/28) — Kuril Islands

May 6, 2000, Landsat 7 (path/row 101/26) — Kuril Islands

May 6, 2000, Landsat 7 (path/row 101/26) — Kuril Islands close up

Apr. 19, 2014, Landsat 8 (path/row 101/26) — Kuril Islands
















Selkirk Island, Chile Additional Imagery & Stories

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...

More Selkirk Cloudscapes
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 simila...

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...

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...