One of the Expedition 36 crew members aboard the International Space Station recorded this still image of unusual cloud patterns surrounding Guadalupe Island in the Pacific Ocean.
ISS036-E-035663 (24 Aug. 2013) — One of the Expedition 36 crew members aboard the International Space Station recorded this still image of unusual cloud patterns surrounding Guadalupe Island in the Pacific Ocean (left center). These are the result of a ubiquitous occurrence in the motion of fluids—a vortex street, which is a linear chain of spiral eddies called von Karman vortices. Von Karman vortices are named after Theodore von Karman, a co-founder of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. who first described the phenomenon in the atmosphere. Guadalupe Island or Isla Guadalupe is a volcanic island located 241 kilometers (150 statute miles) off the west coast of Mexico’s Baja California peninsula.
