Cloud Streets over the Caspian Sea

Credit: Jeff Schmaltz; MODIS team; NASA, Posted on: Saturday, 12 January 2008, 08:50 CST Download full size image

The MODIS on the Terra satellite captured this image of the Caspian Sea, on January 10, 2008. The Caspian Sea is actually bordered by many countries, including Russia (shown on the left middle and top of the image) and Azerbaijan (lower left), with the Caucasus Mountains running along their border. There is also Iran (to the south, not pictured), Turkmenistan (lower right), and Kazakhstan (top right).

The top portion of the Sea is frozen over and hard to distinguish from the land. The middle portion is open and you can see the green water beneath the clouds. The cloud patterns are unusual - they are called cloud streets, and are rows of cumulus or cumulus-type clouds that are aligned parallel to the low-level wind.

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