April 15, 2021 - Cloud Streets Franz Josef Islands

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   Cloud Streets Franz Josef Islands
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   Located just 600 miles (970 kilometers) from the North Pole, Franz
   Josef Land is a frigid archipelago made up of 91 islands, and
   perpetually wears a coat of ice. Glaciers cover roughly 85 percent of
   the land masses and sea ice floats in the channels between islands even
   in the summertime.

   In mid-April 2021, frigid air temperatures and strong wind combined to
   create a dramatic canopy of cloud over the islands. The Moderate
   Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua
   satellite acquired a true-color image of the scene on April 13.

   The stunning cloud formations are not your typical cumulus clouds. They
   are organized in rows parallel to the direction of the wind. Called
   “cloud streets”, this formation is created when a cold air mass moves
   over a relatively warmer body of water. When this occurs, columns of
   warm air rise through the atmosphere, carrying heat away from the sea
   surface. The moist air rises until it hits a warmer layer of air (a
   temperature inversion) which ends up acting like a lid, stopping the
   rising air. They rising thermals then roll over on themselves to form
   parallel cylinders of rotating air. As the air rises, clouds form and
   where the air descends the skies remain clear. In this case, most of
   the frigid air mass originates over a large mass of sea ice rather than
   land.

   Image Facts
   Satellite:  Aqua
   Date Acquired: 4/13/2021
   Resolutions:  1km (393.4 KB),  500m (1.2 MB),  250m (3.6 MB)
   Bands Used: 1,4,3
   Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2021-04-15
 
