Cloud Vortices Off Cheju Island

Credit: Jeff Schmaltz; MODIS team; NASA, Posted on: Saturday, 1 March 2008, 11:32 CST Download full size image

This image was captured by the MODIS on the Terra satellite on February 24, 2008. Pictured is the island of Cheju, which is off the southern coast of South Korea. At the center of the island is Halla, a mountain that was once an active volcano. It rises 6390 feet above sea level.

It is this island's highest point that is causing the clouds that encounter it to flow around in swirls and eddies called von Karmann vortices.

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