In meteorology the flow of atmospheric air over obstacles such as islands or isolated mountains sometimes gives birth to von Karman vortex streets. When a cloud layer is present at the relevant altitude, the streets become visible. Such cloud layer vortex streets have been photographed from satellites. The vortex street can reach over 400 km from the obstacle and the diameter of the vortices are normally 20-40 km. Continue reading

Named after physicist Theodore von Karman, who described the process that creates them in 1912, von Karman vortices are a type of spiraling cloud pattern that appears when winds are pushed around a blunt, high-profile area like an island or a mountain peak.

The vortices' distinctive swirl patterns are created by an alternating direction of rotation in the air as winds move around the island or peak. The pattern of the swirls can differ based on wind intensity.

If you watch for von Karman vortices on satellite, you may notice that as the prevailing winds change, so do the directions and structures of the vortices.

10 bizarre 'dark voids' appear in the skies over uninhabited island near Antarctica - Heard Island in the Indian Ocean   Live Science - August 12, 2025

This striking satellite photo shows 10 swirling "dark voids" that appeared above an uninhabited volcanic island in the Indian Ocean. The black spots are the result of atmospheric cloud vortices, but are oddly pronounced and significantly contorted compared to most other examples of this phenomenon. On average, the dark spots are around 8 miles (13 km) wide, decreasing slightly in size the further they have traveled.