Gravitational waves in the sky

In the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States 17 April in the afternoon you could see the cloud-striped sky. Orbit opened not less picturesque view.

"Sacred waves" — wrote in his "Twitter" meteorologist Dakota Smith, has published an animation of the satellite images, which showed fluctuations in the wavy clouds in the atmosphere.

Gravitational wave in fluid dynamics is the term used to describe waves generated in a liquid medium, where the force of gravity or buoyancy are trying to restore the balance.

The wavy clouds were obtained using the MODIS on the NASA satellite "Aqua". Below the clouds visible to the verdant forests of North America in the Eastern Piedmont plateau of the Piedmont, while in the cooler mountain areas are still waiting for the arrival of spring and stayed brown.

Wavy clouds form when air flows over hills. In this case, North-westerly winds of the jet stream was passing over the Appalachian mountains and created gravitational waves on the leeward (Eastern) side of the mountains. When the air collided with the mountains and began to pass over them, he began to waver — this happens when a car traveling at a high speed stops abruptly.

Clouds are formed in the atmosphere at a certain altitude where the air is saturated, condensation level for rising air. Wavy clouds form when the waves rise above this level, even if the troughs of the waves remain below it. The distance between the wavy strips of clouds give an idea of the speed of the wind passing over the mountains. At high wind speeds, these gaps are particularly large.

Translated by «Yandex.Translator»