Photo #: ISS036-E-35665 Date: Aug. 2013Geographic Region: MEXICO
Feature: GUADALUPE I., VON KARMAN VORTICES
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Photo #: ISS036-E-35665 Date: Aug. 2013 Geographic Region: MEXICO Feature: GUADALUPE I., VON KARMAN VORTICES |
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| Cloud Swirls and Ripples, Guadalupe Island, Baja California Guadalupe Island (image left) is a volcanic edifice 35 km long that lies 240 km off the coast of Mexico's Baja California peninsula. Winds on the August day this astronaut photograph was taken were blowing from the north (left), and gave rise to a series of eddies in the atmosphere which appear as circles and swirls in the clouds downwind of the island. Known technically as a Von Karman vortex street, obstacles of any kind can set up such vortices, from islands to craters to chimneys. The size of each swirl can be judged from the length of the island. Under ideal conditions clouds make the swirls visible. A vortex street will only form under certain conditions of air speed, atmospheric stability and obstacle size. Conditions are ideal for production of vortex streets in the vicinity of Guadalupe Island, which is known to produce them almost every day in June, July and August. The phenomenon is named after Theodore von Karman (1881-1963), a Hungarian-American engineer and fluid mechanics expert. Also visible at image top right is a series of parallel cloud lines. Known colloquially as "gravity waves," these are ripples at the boundary between layers of slightly different density within the atmosphere. |
| Images: | All Available Images Low-Resolution 325k |
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| Mission: | ISS036 |
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| Roll - Frame: | E - 35665 |
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| Geographical Name: | MEXICO |
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| Features: | GUADALUPE I., VON KARMAN VORTICES |
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| Center Lat x Lon: | 28.0N x 118.5W |
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| Film Exposure: | N=Normal exposure, U=Under exposed, O=Over exposed, F=out of Focus |
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| Percentage of Cloud Cover-CLDP: | 100 |
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| Camera:: | N5 |
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| Camera Tilt: | 20 | LO=Low Oblique, HO=High Oblique, NV=Near Vertical |
| Camera Focal Length: | 50 |
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| Nadir to Photo Center Direction: | SE | The direction from the nadir to the center point, N=North, S=South, E=East, W=West |
| Stereo?: | Y=Yes there is an adjacent picture of the same area, N=No there isn't |
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| Orbit Number: | |
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| Date: | 20130824 | YYYYMMDD |
| Time: | 200008 | GMT HHMMSS |
| Nadir Lat: | 28.7N |
Latitude of suborbital point of spacecraft |
| Nadir Lon: | 119.6W |
Longitude of suborbital point of spacecraft |
| Sun Azimuth: | 179 | Clockwise angle in degrees from north to the sun measured at the nadir point |
| Space Craft Altitude: | 221 | nautical miles |
| Sun Elevation: | 72 | Angle in degrees between the horizon and the sun, measured at the nadir point |
| Land Views: | ISLAND |
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| Water Views: | |
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| Atmosphere Views: | VON KARMAN VORTEX |
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| Man Made Views: | |
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| City Views: | |
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Photo is not associated with any sequences | ||
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