Gravity wave clouds over the Gulf of Mexico, satellite image. Texas, USA, is at top and left. The ripples are caused by the movement of a high pressur

---

Gravity wave clouds over the Gulf of Mexico, satellite image. Texas, USA, is at top and left. The ripples are caused by the movement of a high pressure area and its cold front. Dense air was pushed upwards into the less dense air above it, forming the crest of the wave. Gravity pulls the dense air back down, forming the trough. Image taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA's Terra satellite on 15th March 2008.

---

Size: 3600px × 2800px
Photo credit: © NASA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 15, 2000s, 2008, 21st, america, american, atmosphere, atmospheric, bore, century, cloud, clouds, coast, current, earth, formation, gravity, gulf, image, imaging, march, meteorological, meteorology, mexico, moderate, modis, north, observation, resolution, ripples, satellite, sea, sky, space, spectroradiometer, states, stripy, structure, terra, texas, undular, united, usa, water, wave, weather