[NASA] A Particular Lenticular Cloud

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New Zealand’s stunning scenery has famously provided the backdrop for fictional worlds in fantasy films. A unique cloud that forms over the Otago region of the country’s South Island also evokes the otherworldly, while very much existing in reality.

NASA/Lauren Dauphin; USGS

Landsat 8’s Operational Land Imager acquired this image of an elongated

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, locally nicknamed the “Taieri ****,” above New Zealand’s South Island on Sept. 7, 2024. Lenticular clouds form when prevailing winds encounter a topographic barrier, such as a mountain range. Wind that is forced to flow up and over the mountains creates a kind of wave in the atmosphere. Air cools at the crest of the wave, and the water vapor it contains condenses into clouds.

Image credit: NASA/Lauren Dauphin; USGS

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