The mysterious icy curls in the Weddell sea: satellite photos

Nature is limitless in their artistic fantasies. So, the satellite images taken in April of 2016, showed a mysterious line crossing the Caspian sea. As it turned out, they were caused by the icebergs, touching the seabed. New images of the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula reveal another interesting phenomenon: an icy white hair, flowing from a glacier in the Weddell sea.

The image was acquired on 4 April using the VIIRS instrument on the Suomi NPP satellite. During the autumn sea ice around Antarctica begins to grow again after reaching a yearly low of 20-21 February.

According to scientists, the observed long and isolated stretch of the ice hard to explain. "The edge of sea ice is typically far to the South this time of year. I have never seen such a well-organized structure in the middle of the ocean, which does not melt," said Ron Kwok from the jet propulsion Laboratory of NASA.

Similar patterns are found in the atmosphere downwind of the icebergs. The so-called vortex track on the background of the Pocket occurs when the wind passes blunt the rise — often an island rising from the ocean, or sometimes the iceberg. Alternating the direction of rotation in the air, it forms swirls in the clouds.

Kelly brunt, a glaciologist from the space flight Center. NASA Goddard and University of Maryland, said that seen in sea water serpentine patterns following the icebergs: "You can see the distorted track on the background of the Pocket associated with the currents on the leeward side of the iceberg. The physical parameters that lead to the emergence of vortex paths in the air may in the same way to create patterns in the sea water."

Translated by «Yandex.Translator»