MétéoMer in the wind for 1999

Visual CORBIS/SIPA IMAGE - View from the nasa space shuttle Date 5/8/92

Island in the wind

Wind flows around islands in much the same way that water flows around the hull of the ship. Clouds like the low ones in this photo allow us to see the flow of air in the wake of the island. The eddies and and swirls in the wake captured behind Sorroco island (Mexico) cover 40 miles. The rotating air that spills off the sides of the islands is a type of turbulence that is is still studied by the whole ocean engineering community with great interest.