Unusual Cloud formation

[paulchandler6]

Noticed an unusual cloud formation whilst out today.
The cloud stretched from horizon to horizon and at a guess was about a kilometre wide. Its orientation was roughly south to north.
When talking to another birder about it he described as like a super highway in the sky.
Has anyone any ideas how and why it formed like that?





Paul

[The Black Rabbit]

Originally Posted by paulchandler6

Noticed an unusual cloud formation whilst out today.
The cloud stretched from horizon to horizon and at a guess was about a kilometre wide. Its orientation was roughly south to north.
When talking to another birder about it he described as like a super highway in the sky.
Has anyone any ideas how and why it formed like that?





Paul

Can't help you Paul I'm afraid, but I like the photo's.
I'm often gazing up at the sky, and there's a marvellous book out at the moment (just in time for christmas) "The pig with six legs (and other clouds)".
See some of the photos in that book by clicking HERE.
Cheers
Doug

[tufftie]

Sorry, but i like the photos!

[Billy Wobble Dagger]

Was it moving right to left? The left hand edge looks like the leading edge of a weak front it's probably altocirrus with some lower cloud below.

BWD

[Fritillary]

mmm I think you tried to show off your photos .

About your question, I could imagine that it must be the change of hot and cold wind in the upper part of the sky that build of this sort of cloud formations.

[starlight]

Hi Paul, I dont know either, but its very unusual and pretty. I took this pic in May at 3am this year.



It was amazing how it was lit up!

Black Rabbit, I love those photos, can I post them on another forum please? The pig is great!!

[paulchandler6]

Thanx for the replies folks and your comments on the pics.

In the 2 hours that I was there the cloud formation did not appear to move. It looked intriguing enough to take some pics hoping to find out what caused it.
Would there be a temperature difference on either side of the cloud?


Paul

PS - Like the pic starlight, very atmospheric.

[Vipera]

Originally Posted by starlight

Hi Paul, I dont know either, but its very unusual and pretty. I took this pic in May at 3am this year.



It was amazing how it was lit up!

Black Rabbit, I love those photos, can I post them on another forum please? The pig is great!!

Hey starlight, nice pic, do you realise what it is you have taken a photo off, Its Noctilucent cloud, and looks like a very nice display too!

[oxycera]

The Cloudspotter's Guide (Hardcover)
by Gavin Pretor-Pinney (Author)

This is an excellent book.

[Brenners]

Great photos! That line of cloud looks like it may be associated with something called a gravity wave. Essentially, the atmosphere acts like a large pond and that pond can have ripples in it. A gravity wave, simplistically, is like a ripple in the surface of a pond. That stretched out line of cloud may well have been marking out one of these huge ripples. Good spot!

Bren

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by Brenners

That line of cloud looks like it may be associated with something called a gravity wave.

Hmm, I thought gravity waves exist in little more than theory. Their effect is so slight that scientists are struggling to set up experiments that demonstrate their existence.

Shoot me down though - I should really have done a hard Google before I stated the above, but couldn't be ars*d!
;^)

Jim

[Brenners]

Hi Jim!

Gravity waves are pretty much accepted science although I think they're pretty much impossible to simulate in the lab - so in that respect, they're theoretical.

Here's quite a nice account of them from NASA:

NASA - Gravity Waves make Tornados

Bren

[Jim Ford]

Ahh! I thought _gravitational_ waves were being discussed as being responsible for cloud formation - these (from Wikipedia):

"In physics, a gravitational wave is a fluctuation in the curvature of spacetime which propagates as a wave, traveling outward from a moving object or system of objects. Gravitational radiation is the energy transported by these waves. Important examples of systems which emit gravitational waves are binary star systems, where the two stars in the binary are white dwarfs, neutron stars, or black holes.

Although gravitational radiation has not yet been directly detected, it has been indirectly shown to exist. This was the basis for the 1993 Nobel Prize in Physics, awarded for measurements of the Hulse-Taylor binary system."

_Gravity_ waves are not so esoteric!

Jim

[Brenners]

Ah yes, easily confused! I'm not sure why someone decided to name them so similarly! Put it this way, if clouds were appearing in the sky as a result of time and space bending at the seams, I'd be a nervous wreck by now

Bren