NASA Satellite Inspects Strange-Looking Cloud That Always Forms in Same Spot

Okay, that is a bizarre one.

Pet Names

A NASA remark satellite tv for pc has imaged an oddly-shaped cloud hovering above the Strath-Taieri area in southeastern New Zealand.

A satellite tv for pc image shared by the area company and brought on September 7 exhibits an uncommon, elongated cloud nestled alongside a rocky mountain vary. The strange-looking cloud formation typically happens in the identical spot, main locals to dub it the “Taieri Pet.”

Although it feels like alien sci-fi, there is a completely cheap clarification: the peculiar cloud is an altocumulus standing lenticular cloud (ASLC), in accordance with NASA, which is created when winds encounter a steep barrier corresponding to a mountain vary. Winds get swept up, making a standing wave whereas air on the crest of the wave cools down sufficient to kind water vapor, which condenses into clouds.

“Because the cloud varieties on the crest of this wave, it stays nearly stationary within the sky and is formed by the sturdy winds blowing by means of it,” defined New Zealand’s MetService meteorologist John Regulation in a NASA statement.

Blowing Clouds

Different ASLC clouds can tackle much more uncommon shapes, showing as a pile of stacked disc shapes or slim bowls that attain excessive up into the sky.

Even the Taieri Pet, when viewed from the side, seems as stacked layers of clouds that attain a whole lot of toes into the air, giving it an much more UFO-like look.

“What is exclusive about these clouds is that they’re very dynamic, and whereas every particular person air parcel is present process this cycle of cooling and condensing and warming and evaporating, visually, the cloud seems to be standing nonetheless,” climate observer Karl Philippoff defined in a blog post for the Mount Washington Observatory.

With its extraordinarily crisp edges, the Taieri Pet is definitely the results of some extraordinarily sturdy environmental forces.

“The looks of the Taieri Pet is a good indicator of sturdy winds excessive within the environment,” Regulation defined.

Unsurprisingly, flying close to the cloud could be hazardous and end in extreme turbulence, in accordance with NASA.

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