Vincent`s Swirling Clouds
Taken by Helio C. Vital on February 24, 2014 @
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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Camera Used: SONY DSC-HX300
Exposure Time: 1/160
Aperture: f/6.3
ISO: 80
Date Taken: 2014:02:24 18:09:27
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Details:
In the photos, taken around 21:08 UT with a Sony DSC-HX300 camera, we can see an example of the Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability Clouds hovering over the northwestern horizon shortly before sunset. Such formations are sometimes produced at the interface of two air layers of different velocities. Friction between the layers causes them to penetrate each other as wave-like disturbances. The pressure difference then pulls the wave crests forward in the layer with faster air flow and backward in the slower layer. Such transition mechanism, associated to the onset of turbulence, creates the vortexes. The great Dutch post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh was so impressed by such swirling clouds that several skies he painted were generously adorned with their presence.
Photographer's website:
http://https://www.flickr.com/photos/98669508@N03/
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