Wind Patterns

[FourPoints]

Came across these cool photos, the two that impresses me the most are the ones showing the affect of small islands on wind patterns.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2...elatedLinks&utm_campaign=Interesting&pid=3758

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2...elatedLinks&utm_campaign=Interesting&pid=3755

 

[zeehag]

very important to learn so ye dont get stuffed into a lee shore.....

 

[FourPoints]

I was talking about the affect on the wind in the Lee of a small island... from these pics you can clearly see that a island affects wind patterns for many many miles, even for a small island. No wonder the wind on long island so often sucks!

 

[rgranger]

No wonder the wind on long island so often sucks!

Dude! that blows....

 

[RobG]

FourPoints
You can get those original images here (and much more) to your heart's content. Careful, you can get lost for days in there. The Gallery are the "produced" images. The sat swaths are near real time and raw.
http://earthdata.nasa.gov/data/near-real-time-data/rapid-response
Come out the the eastern sound. We have a saying - we've either got enough wind (usually) or too much.
Rob

 

[richk]

these wake effect patterns are a manifestation of von Karman vortices and are similar in nature to those shed by airfoils. for a neat video of the effect see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Von_Kármán_vortex_street