Saturday, January 15, 2011

More Snow?

Is there snow on this picture?


Courtesy, NASA/GSFC, MODIS Rapid Response.

If you said no then congratulations. Yes, there is a lot of white in this picture, but they are mostly small puffy white clouds.

Why does it look so isolated? Well, we are looking at Mindanao island in the Philippines. Mindanao island is a very mountainous island. The mountains were formed because of the island's location near the Pacific and Philippine tectonic plates. Just as how the Appalachian mountains were born, these mountains are younger and higher.

Because of all the mountains, wind and air is constantly in motion, going up and down the mountains. When air is transported up the mountain, it takes with it some of the humidity or moisture. This water vapor condenses in the cooler air at the top of the mountains and forms clouds. The whole process is called orographic lift.

No comments:

Post a Comment