Stripe-like wave clouds can often form downstream of mountains. This satellite image shows such clouds in the South Pacific where rocky mountains jut 600 meters (2,000 ft) above the sea. Keep reading
Tag: gravity wave
Gravity Waves on Mars
It may look like grainy, black and white static from a 20th-century television, but this animation shows what may be the first view of gravity waves seen from the ground Keep reading
Breaking the Wave Speed Limit
Whirligig beetles are small surface swimming insects. As they race across the water surface, they create both visible and unnoticeable waves on the water. These waves are the result of Keep reading
Venusian Waves
Despite its proximity, Venus remains largely mysterious, thanks to its cloudy atmosphere and incredible harsh conditions. A recent study using data from the Japanese satellite Akatsuki revealed an enormous bow-shaped wave Keep reading
Where Jupiter’s Heat Comes From
Exactly what goes on in Jupiter’s atmosphere has confounded scientists for decades. Its upper atmosphere – essentially the only part we can observe – is hundreds of degrees warmer than Keep reading
Crisscrossing Clouds
This natural-color satellite image shows crisscrossing cloud patterns off coastal Africa. These distinctive lines in the sky are gravity waves, and they form when air masses get displaced upward by Keep reading
Lenticular Clouds Over Ice
Lenticular clouds, like the one shown above, often attract attention due to their unusual shape. These stationary, lens-shaped clouds can form near mountains and other topography that force air to Keep reading
The Cloud Bands of Jupiter
The cloud bands of Jupiter stripe the planet with turbulence. Throughout its upper atmosphere, Jupiter shows signs of gravity waves and complicated wave patterns. Near the equator, the cloud bands are Keep reading
Portrait of Gas Giants
[original media no longer available] Here raw footage from NASA’s Cassini and Voyager missions has been combined in a stunning portrait of Saturn and Jupiter. Watch as tiny moons create Keep reading
Reader Question: Froude vs. Reynolds
@spooferbarnabas asks: I was wondering what the difference is between Froude’s number and Reynold’s number? they seem very similar Fluid dynamicists often use nondimensional numbers to characterize different flows because Keep reading