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From:
Richard Friday
Sent: Tuesday, 25 August 2009
To: CGC List
Subject: Wow
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| Morning
Glory clouds over the Gulf of Carpentaria |
Photo:
Mick Petroff |
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| They are called Morning
Glory clouds and, says NASA, no-one is quite sure what causes them. |
| This shot was taken by
photographer Mick Petroff from a plane near the Gulf of Carpentaria and posted online by
NASA. |
| A Morning Glory cloud can
roll for 1000 kilometres at altitudes up to two kilometres high. |
| These, over Burketown in
Queensland happen every spring, says NASA. |
| "Long, horizontal,
circulating tubes of air might form when flowing, moist, cooling air encounters an
inversion layer, an atmospheric layer where air temperature atypically increases with
height," says NASA on its website. |
| "These tubes and
surrounding air could cause dangerous turbulence for airplanes when clear. Morning Glory
clouds can reportedly achieve an airspeed of 60 kilometers per hour over a surface with
little discernible wind." |
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| smh.com.au |
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| http://www.smh.com.au/environment/whats-the-story-morning-glory-20090825-exlt.html |
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