Wave clouds in Washington DC

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Clouds showing a wave-like structure in Washington DC, USA. Wave clouds are known as Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds, after scientists Lord Kelvin and Hermann von Helmholtz, who studied the instabilities that form where there is a velocity difference at the interface between two fluids or fluid layers (in this case caused by different densities of air across a temperature inversion)

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Size: 5163px × 3456px
Location:
Photo credit: © MARK WILLIAMSON/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: air, american, atmosphere, cloud, clouds, dc, densities, density, fluid, fluids, helmholtz, instabilities, instability, interface, inversion, kelvin, states, structure, temperature, united, usa, washington, wave, wave-, waves