 EPOD - a service of USRA

The Earth Science Picture of the Day (EPOD) highlights the diverse processes
and phenomena which shape our planet and our lives. EPOD will collect and
archive photos, imagery, graphics, and artwork with short explanatory
captions and links exemplifying features within the Earth system. The
community is invited to contribute digital imagery, short captions and
relevant links.


 Archive - Lenticular Cloud Display

   November 28, 2020

    02clouds copy

   Every weekend we present a notable item from our archives. This EPOD
   was originally published November 28, 2003.

   Provided and copyright:  Bill Willenberg
   Summary authors & editors:  Bill Willenberg;  Jim Foster

   The above photo shows but a glimpse of a spectacular lenticular cloud
   display, captured late in the day in mid-October, northwest of Salem,
   Oregon. This 8-layer cloud stack was the finale of a delightful
   orographic concert. On this particular afternoon, lenticular clouds
   were observed over the Willamette Valley, the Cascades Range (east of
   Salem) and the Salem Hills (south of Salem), but the few lenticular
   stacks that formed were confined to Oregon's coastal range and the Eola
   Hills. Lens-shaped lenticular clouds can form when moist air is cooled
   to the dewpoint as it's forced up over mountain slopes -- wherever
   stable moist air flows over a mountain range. As this happens,
   sometimes a series of wave clouds are created on the downwind or lee
   side of the range. If conditions are just right (moist layers are in
   rather close proximity), the clouds can appear to stack upon one
   another.


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    Archive - Lenticular Cloud Display  Parisian Twilight Sky
    EPOD 20th - Mammatus Above Brookfield  EPOD 20th - Nacreous
   Clouds Above Antarctica  EPOD 20th - Foggy Start to the Day in
   Budapest, Hungary  Encore - Morning Glory Over Southeastern Brazil
    More...

Cloud Links

     *  Atmospheric Optics
     *  The Cloud Appreciation Society
     *  Cloud Atlas
     *  Color and Light in Nature

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   Earth Science Picture of the Day is a service of the  Universities
   Space Research Association.

https://epod.usra.edu
 
