On May 8, 2021, NOAA satellites captured von Kármán vortices streaming around Guadalupe Island, off the west coast of Mexico’s Baja California.

Named after Theodore von Kármán, a co-founder of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and one of the first scientists to describe this type of atmospheric phenomenon, these beautiful cloud formations typically occur when the prevailing wind is diverted by elevated land features such as islands, mountaintops, or volcanoes. These geological features can disrupt the flow of wind, causing the air, and its subsequent clouds, to rotate into a spiral shape. This is similar to the way large boulders create downstream eddies in rivers.

The pattern of the cloud swirls depends on the wind intensity. The vortices are driven by the prevailing winds, which can change seasonally and cause differences in the direction and structure of the vortices. These stratocumulus cloud formations are seen all over the world.

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Please Credit:
NOAA
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
CIRA

Additional Imagery:
JMA
EUMETSAT
NASA/USGS

Music:
“Modular Odyssey,” by Laetitia Frenod [SACEM]; Koka; Universal Production Music

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